Rabid Romance
by memoriesonadeck
Summary: Alicia Teller is a 17 year old girl from Waterbury, Connecticut who just moved to Beacon Hills. Ready to finally be away from her boring normal life in CT, she realizes she's bit off more than she could chew when she meets Scott and his loyal friends. Meanwhile, it seems like someone is taking a bite out of the McCall pack, one by one and infecting them with a deadly disease.
1. Intro: Western Ambitions

_Okay so this story should be accurate as of the end of SEASON 4. Not sure if Im adding the third eye stuff into it yet, but maybe. TWO OCs, better descriptions of these OC's appearances will come out as the story unfolds. Pairings are up for debate, but OC/Stiles OC/Scott OC/DEREK are possibilities Im playing with now. Suggestions are accepted and taken into account. [TW: CURSING, SEXUAL SCENES, LIGHT HORROR/GORE} I do not own Teen Wolf. _

_**Dedicated to: Alicia, my best friend and sister.**_

**INTRO-**

"You've had that stupid smile plastered on your face since yesterday" M.j. was staring into a bowl of cereal her mom had set in front of her, looking defeated.

Alicia, her cousin, kept grinning, her large gap toothed smile.

"I just flew in yesterday, and Ive been up since five am, so Im kind of already ready to go." But it was much more than all of that. She was beginning her senior year of high school _in California _just thinking it made her smile. She had wanted to live in California since she was a kid, when she first watched 'rocket power' on Nickelodeon. It wasnt even so much the skateboarding or surfing or ocean or waves or whatever most people see in the appeal of California- as it was the way you feel when youre away from home. And not just a few hours away.

Growing up in Connecticut you see plenty of different cities, all over the east coast. But youre always just a few hours drive from home. When youre in California, its different. Nothing is close, and everything seems unimaginably possible. Even the small town of Beacon Hills had two times as many people as Waterbury, Connecticut, her home town.

"Ugh. Okay I will go get ready." Mj moved slowly out of her chair and into their room, leaving her soggy cereal behind.

"So Alicia!" Alicia's aunt was washing dishes behind her in the kitchen, one headphone in her ear, and an apron around her waist, " Are you ready for your, first day at Beacon Hills High?"

"Yeah! Im excited! I think it will be fun- or at least Im hoping it will be better than Crosby High School."

M.j appeared suddenly next to her, still looking tired, "Its not I promise." She said roughly.

"Whatever," Alicia responded and thanked her aunt for breakfast before leaving the kitchen with Mj and heading out to the car. She drove her aunt's Blue Jeep and Mj climbed into the front seat. "Marjory Stewart Baxter." she said in a silly british voice, teasing her cousin.

"SHhhh. Seriously if you call me that at school-"

"I wont! Shut up." Alicia laughed, and turned the music up higher as her cousin gave her directions to school. Driving in California was different than in Connecticut, but mostly because there were a- in her opinion- needlessly large amount of stop lights between here and anywhere, and she found out quickly that two times more people surely meant twice as many cars.

"So tell me about the guys, any hot ones?" Alicia was trying to coax anything but this oozing hatred for school out of her cousin.

"No. Yeah? I mean theres some guys on the lacrosse team I guess. Make a left and We are here." They pulled into the parking lot of Beacon Hills High. "But sports guys are clique-y." Mj was staring out of the window like she was looking into the mouth of hell.

"It cant be that bad-Come on" Alicia practically dragged her cousin from the car as they walked into the first day of the semester.


	2. Ch 1: First Day of School

**CHAPTER 1**

Alicia spent her first class in Sophomore year Marine Biology. Mj had departed from her quickly, mumbling something about Journalism class and running away before Alicia could object. Her schedule had come in the mail to her Aunt's house over the summer, but of course, this was the first time she had looked at the list of classes. If she had known she would start her first day of senior year in a sophomore class, she would have at least tried to email the counselor for a change. But she wasnt in the mood to battle with snarky middle aged office-working women in bad wigs- she would take her 'marine biology' in silence. Even if it was with a bunch of kids.

She sat in the back, to not draw attention to herself, because who wants to be the new kid? A boy with short spikey-blondish brown hair sat next to her. He looked nervous-his light blue eyes shifted around the room erratically. Alicia didnt even notice him next to her, she was lost in her own thoughts.

She couldnt believe "marine biology" was even a class, it was surreal. So _californian_. "Crazy." she said under her breath.

"WHO?" the strange boy next to her asked, blinking erratically.

"Oh sorry, I was talking to myself." Alicia examined him carefully. His pupils were dilated, and strange looking. He seemed to be sweating profusely, and the corners of his lips were- she wanted to say foamy…

There was a bandage around his arm that was visibly bleeding. He looked tiny and broken and angry. "Why did you just YELL the word CRAZY then?" he was talking a bit too loud, and the teacher shushhed them. Alicia hadnt even noticed the class begin. She was too intrigued with the weirdo kid next to her.

"I didnt yell anything…" There was a strange smell in the room- pungent and familiar- a rot. She noticed it was coming from him.

"You dont look so good, kid, maybe you should go home."

The teacher was still talking in a slow controlled droll from the front of the class, oblivious to the half dead looking kid in the back.

"Dunbar, Liam?" He called out, for a second time, finally looking around the room at the students.

The boy next to Alicia raised his hand, "here." he said breathlessly, now. The underside of his arm had a large gauze bandage over it, there was blood leaking through. The smell must be rotting flesh. She felt she might vomit, and put her hand through her long brown curls.

"Is that a bite?" she said, instinctively recognizing the blood marks as being that of a dog bite.

His eyes widened even larger as he turned and snapped at her- quite literally- his eyes momentarily glowing.

"No! Mind your own business." he huffed. She notice him scratch the bandage roughly as her turned away, pulling his sleeve downwards.

"What the fuck is wrong with your eyes?" She was almost scared of him as he continued to stare at her aggressively, scratching his wound so intensely now that blood was leaking from the bottom of the bandage.

"Alicia Teller?" the teacher said, interrupting them again

"Can I please go to the bathroom?!" She blurted out, cursing herself for not looking at her neighbors before taking a seat. The teacher excused her and she left the room quickly.

But it wasn't quick enough, she had barely gone down the hall before she heard the door to the classroom close again behind her. Liam had come out, staggering, and clutching his arm. She spun around at the sound of his deep erratic breathing, his mouth was open, and she noticed now that his canine teeth seemed irregularly large. His eyes caught the sunlight from the windows and gleamed yellow-for the second time. Or maybe they had always been that color? Alicia couldnt tell, she was forsure scared now. He had gross long fingernails, and he was now scratching his bandage so hard it ripped. A huge open gaping wound was on his arm, bleeding and pussing, in the shape of a bite.

She let out an audible noise when the full stench of the wound hit her nose,something between a 'no!' and a gag that came out like "NoYEUKWGdhggggggggg"

His flashing eyes hit hers again, and he _**growled**_.

"Dont...come near me." She said, forcefully.

"Liam!" a voice rang through the empty hallway behind her, but it was too late- Liam had lunged at her.

She dodged it, side-stepping quickly. Alicia was somewhat agile, she had done years of football and other sports, leaving her relatively fit and light on her feet.

Footsteps padded behind her, as Liam Dunbar hit the floor. His body jerked as he did, and his mouth began to foam even more. He began to seize, his arms and head smacking hard against the linoleum tile beneath him. His colorless face turned purple, and his legs kicked the air sporadically.

The kid who had seem Liam begin to attack reached them now, and crouched next to Liam, just as Alicia did.

"What…? What's happening?" he asked, looking just as scared as she had felt a moment earlier. The boy was obviously older than Liam. His complexion was darker too ,complemented by dark brown hair that he brushed to the side.

"He's seizing. He should go to the hospital."

"No." the kid said instinctively, through straight white teeth and a crooked jaw. He tried to put his arms under Liam as he convulsed, as if to pick him up.

"Dont- touch or move him, you could seriously hurt-"

"I can hold his weight" the boy said authoritatively.

"Yes, maybe- and then he hits you and you drop him, or you hold him the one way while his body violently jerks the other, and he breaks his ribs- just dont move him." She pushed him away lightly, and he looked genuinely scared. "It wont last too long." Alicia tried to reassure the boy, who she noticed now had nicely sculpted brown arms that he folded over his chest.

"I dont know whats wrong with him, but it seems to me like its that bite," Liam stopped convulsing as she spoke, his breathing becoming even more shallow, "I mean- Ive seen something like it before," The boy made eye contact with her as he began to pick up Liams lifeless body, "my neighbor's dog had rabies, it had the same look in his eyes that Liam did right before it died." She paused a moment after looking at him up and down, "I mean except the glowing-thats new."


	3. Ch 2: Playin' Hookie

**Chapter 2**

Alicia found herself trailing after the boy as he walked down the hallway, half wondering where the hell the staff was at this school.

"Do you have a car?" The kid asked. He had the determined demeanor of a leader, but looked at a loss.

"Yeah but-" she paused, "Whats your name?" it seemed trivial at the moment, but necessary, considering her lack of persuasion so far.

"Scott. I need to take my friend for help, but all i have is my bike…"

"Your friend needs a hospital Scott. He's in bad shape, I dont think ethically I could drive you to wherever-"

"Im taking him to a doctor just- please" he looked at her with big pleading brown eyes, and she thought fleetingly that he looked like a sad puppy.

"Alright, fine, but if he dies its your fault." She gave in. It was the eyes or the arms or a combination of the two.

She pulled her keys out of her jacket pocket and they hurried down the hallway towards the double doors that lead them out of school. Blood trickled down Liam's open wound and onto the floor, she had to side-step it as she strived to keep her tiny legs in pace with Scotts long ones.

They flew out of the doors and into the parking lot as some authoritative figure trailed out behind them barking threats. "Sorry!" Scott called as they jumped into the Jeep.

"Just try and make sure he doesnt bleed all over the seats, this is my aunts car."

Scott had Liam in the backseat, and he was cradling his head as Alicia spun out of the parking lot and onto the street. Alicia couldnt help but think she knew this year would be more exciting than last. She tried not to smile as she remembered the dying Sophomore.

"What were you saying earlier at the school?" Scott asked as we sped down the main road that lead into town.

"That he looked like my neighbors dog with rabies. I mean, humans react much differently to rabies, but theres all sorts of side effects." She didnt think glowing eyes were one of them, or spontaneously long nails, but she kept quiet about that, for now.

"Rabies." He repeated the word while staring at his friend, like maybe it would fix him. "How do you cure it?"

"Well, its more complicated than that. There isnt just a magic cure," Scott was shouting directions at her as she drove, in a grim tone, "It depends on how far its spread, for how long they've had it and so on. Dogs arent so lucky though, its always fatal." Scott's eyes glazed over as she said this. "Treatment is expensive and gruelling." She realized she wasnt helping.

"Could be anything though, who knows."

He didnt ask anything more, and continued to cradle Liam, who was getting paler by the moment. Alicia tried not to think about the fact that she had ditched school on her first day, instead she found herself reliving the moment Liam had growled at her in the hallway. There was something not quite right about Liam, matter of fact, there was something not quite right about Scott. He seemed to have come out of nowhere, almost immediately, like he had been looking for them or he had somehow heard Liam from some other classroom. Perhaps he had just been there at the right time.

Alicia pulled the Jeep into the back parking lot of a Animal Clinic in downtown Beacon Hills. "This wasnt exactly what I was expecting when you said doctor."

"Thank you for the ride, and Im sorry…" Scott said, delibertaly ignoring her comment as he easily lifted Liam from the backseat of the car. Alicia got out herself, as Scott made for the backdoor of the Veterinary clinic. This was all too strange for her to let go, and she wasnt going to just let him try and sweep her under the rug.

"You dont think its weird that Liam came to school with a large open wound on his side? Like- I dont know anything about him- but most good parents would notice if thier kid was half dead."

Scott knocked on the door to the clinic and waited. He was extraordinarily strong for a high school student, and was unburdened by Liams dead weight in his arms. He held him like a groom would hold his new bride, his arms draped across his shoulders, and his legs dangling from Scotts thick arms. Alicia let her eyes fall on Scotts bicepts for a second time. The phrase 'tall, dark and handsome' swam into her mind. When he replied, she had almost forgotten she had asked a question.

"You should get back to school, he will be fine." He was dismissing her; avoiding her, and he was doing it in a horribly tactless way. Footsteps from the otherside of the door echoed towards them.

"Im not going anywhere until he goes to the hospital or- and I very much doubt this- he is miraculously healed by this veterinarian. Did I mention already that Vet's are _not_ Doctors? Because I feel like thats relevant."

Liam was foaming again, huge white bubbles poured from his mouth and down the sides of his face. He was somehow paler now than he was before.

The door to the clinic flew open and a black man in a while coat appeared in the doorway. He took one look at the three teens and rushed them in, Scott shot Alicia a disapproving look.

The inside of the clinic was just like any other clinic Alicia had been to. It had a kennell that they passed as soon as they walked in. She could hear cats meowing and dogs barking behind the first door. The black vet lead them into the farthest room from the front, a dimmer lit place with a large metal table in the center, Scott placed Liam on this.

"What happened?" The bald black man had a kind face but spoke seriously. He was already pulling off Liam's shirt to reveal the bandage, which was completely soaked in crimson.

"I'm not sure," Scott's voice was strained, and it cracked as he spoke, "He's been foaming and he had a siezure. Hes not," he shot Alicia a sideways glance, "-he's not getting better." Scott chose his words carefully.

The veterinarian pulled off the bandage and the pungent scent of rotting flesh that had been following Liam got even stronger. Alicia could see now, a black sludge mixed with the blood on the bandage. In fact, there seemed to be more sludge than blood coming from the boy. When she looked closer, she noticed that the blood stains on Scotts shirt had dark black spots too.

"What the hell is that stuff?"

As if the wound had heard her question, it began to leak more of the shiny black liquid. Liam's body convulsed. The veterinarian acted quickly.

"Grab some of that antiseptic Scott," he nodded behind him to the large silver bottles that lined the walls, then looked at Alicia as he pressed his bare hands onto the gash, "Theres towels under the table-"

Alicia acted quickly, grabbing a stack and pressing one onto the boy's side. Scott slathered antiseptic on a towel and joined Alicia in applying pressure to the wound. Liam began to seize again beneath them. His eyelids fluttered open as he did, and his blue eyes turned a shiny yellow glow for just a moment, then rolled back into his head, leaving an eerie white in their wake. She wasnt sure if the glowing eyes or the whites of his eyes were creepier.

The veterinarian rushed from the room, yelling, "Hold him down!" as he did.

"This isnt working, he's getting worse." Scott sounded even more worried now.

"Well we havent done anything! You think that leaking black shit out of a flesh wound is fucking normal?" Alicia had dropped her calm and collected persona. She was done being reasonable, she had given these people a benefit of a doubt, but she wasnt about to have this kids death on her hands. She could end this now, with a phone call to the ambulance or the police or anyone. "He's dying, Scott" The seizing was getting more violent as she spoke, Scott now was even struggling to hold the boy down. The towel she was holding down was now soaked in the black fluid, which she realized now that it was pouring over her fingers, was thick and sticky.

"I know! I dont know what to do! I cant-" Scotts face was red, and he was sweating now, his eyes large and wild, "I cant help him." he sounded lost. Liam was almost flying off the table beneath them, the front of Scott and Alicia clothes were slick with black liquid.

"Then fucking call an ambulance! What the fuck do you mean you dont know-" she was cut off by the vet. He skidded back into the room with a large needle in his hand.

"Try and hold him still, this needs to go in his heart."

"His heart? What is that shit? Who the fuck are you people? CALL A REAL DOCTOR."

Liam stopped convulsing for a moment, completely, as the Vet sped over to inject him with the syringe. Then, just as the bald black man was getting in close to the boy, Liam sat up.

His eyes had rolled out of the back of his head and rested on Scott. Shocked, Alicia pulled away. Liam had that crazed look on his face again, and he bared his abnormally long, sharp teeth at Scott. His eyes lighting up the familiar yellow shine. He growled, a deep menacing earthquake of a sound, before literally pouncing onto him in a flurry of sharp nails and teeth. The two boys toppled onto the floor, crashing bottles and throwing black goo all across the room.

The syringe dropped from the vets hands and rolled to the far corner of the room as the boys took out the Vet's legs with their wrestling. A sickening crack filled the air when he hit the ground.

Alicia could barely focus on the fight, it was almost as if they were moving faster than humanly possible. Strange noises echoed off the walls of the metal room, a snarling gnashing sound, claws on metal, flesh tearing. She wanted to scream but nothing would come out her mouth, she was terrified, frozen in fear. The veterinarian was trying to crawl out from under the boys, but his leg hung strangely below his knee, she realized as she watched that the crack she had heard was the sound of his bone breaking.

Dogs barked and howled from outside of the room. The boys looked strange, like they had knives on the ends of their fingers, or maybe it was their fingernails, Alicia could no longer tell.

The vet's mouth was moving now but only deep growls and screeches were coming out of it. He was locked in eye contact with Alicia, screaming in fear, dragging his useless broken leg behind him. He pointed behind her as he yelled, but she just stared at him slack jawed. "A BEETLE" he mouthed.

Meanwhile, behind him, Liam was on top of Scott, tearing into Scotts neck with his hands. Blood squirted into different directions, some from Scott's head, and some still pouring from Liam's wound.

"I dont- I-" she stammered.

"THE NEEDLE" the vet's were huge as he continued to hold a trembling finger at her.

She spun around, the needle! The needle! Thats what he was saying! She eyed it behind her just outside the doorway, and she headed for it. Slipping and sliding on the floor, which was covered completely in blood and black shit and who knew what else, she made it to the needle in less than a second. Scrambling to pick it up, she headed back into the room as Scott manage to pin a snarling and aggressive Liam onto his back.

Alicia half ran half fell back into the room, and stepped over the crippled veterinarian. She finally got a good view of Liam. His face was contorted strangely, and he had deep wrinkled lines on his forehead and nose. He looked completely different. His yellow eyes darted about as Scott struggled to keep him in place. His teeth were about three sizes too long. He looked- for lack of a better word- _wolfish._

"IN HIS CHEST. HURRY I CANT HOLD HIM FOR LONG." Scott was yelling.

She lifted the syringe above her head, and looked at the spot in the boys chest where his heart should be. She tried not to notice the fact that his chest was heaving abnormally, or that she was moving- jolting in fact with his breathing, he growled again menacingly.

Alicia closed her eyes and plunged the needle downwards. She thought of the scene from pulp fiction where John travolta does a similar maneuver with Uma Thermans character. But when she opened her eyes, the scene in front of her played out differently. Liam's eyes didnt flutter open, but closed, his irregular breathing subsided, and his body went limp.

It was quiet for the first time since they entered the building. Alicia could hear her heartbeat in her ears.

"Is he dead?" Alicia asked.

"No, just sedated...for now." The vet groaned from behind them, and Alicia let her body fall back against the table behind her. She was covered in black goop and congealed blood. Alicia felt sticky and smelled like rotting flesh, she felt bile collect in the back of her throat and tried to think of anything but the word _vomit._

Scott fell back next to her, breathing heavily. The wound on his neck was gone. Completely. She didnt even know what to think about that, and frankly, after everything she had just seen, it wasnt surprising.

"Are you new?" Scott's voice was raspy and breathless.

"I just moved here from Connecticut." she felt like this was the wrong time for trivial conversation.

"Welcome to Beacon Hills." the vet said from the other side of the room and Scott added, halfheartedly, "I think you're going to fit in fine."


	4. Ch 3: Desert Wolf

**CHAPTER 3**

Mj stood outside of the Cafeteria pacing and anxiously checking her phone. She hadnt seen Alicia since they went their seperate ways this morning, and she hadnt answered the 14 consecutive texts Mj had sent since then. They often exchanged text messages throughout the day, and it wasnt normal for Alicia to ignore her.

She left the cafeteria palming her phone as she walked, it was her cousins first day of school in California and she had already lost contact with her. It was frustrating. She wandered through some hallways, glancing into passing faces and not finding any trace of Alicia. Although there was a big black puddle in the middle of the front hallway that she promptly slipped on while looking around like an idiot. She hit the ground with an audible "thud".

"Shit." Mj found herself face down in the black goop. She scrambled to get back up, brushing her blonde hair while moving into a sitting up position. A pair of legs appeared in front of her vision, in tan pants and sharp brown shoes, the man bent down and offered her a calloused-rough hand..

"Thanks," she said, getting up with his help. He was a police officer, young, with light brown hair and sharp, light green eyes that complimented her own dark green ones. He opened his mouth and flashed her with a wide, white smile without making eye contact.

"No problem," he replied, looking downwards, at the black water around her feet. She took a step back.

"I think I might have slipped over this…" she trailed off before follwing his eyes to the floor. Looking closer, she saw swirling crimson loops through the black liquid, and a few red droplets spewn about the hallway that students were walking through to reach the cafeteria. Her first thought was, "Barf."

She had said it out loud, and the man who stood in front of her raised an eyebrow at the off-color remark. He was wearing a nametag, she noticed, on his right lapel. It read, "DEP. PARRISH" in all caps.

"I mean, Its barf." she motioned to the puddle at their feet. "It looks like...Idk..purple Kool Aid and blood." she realized how stupid it sounded once it came out

"You've got a bit on your face." was all he said in reply. Mj wiped her face with the sleeve of her sweater, smearing black fluid all over her peach ensemble.

"It smells like dead people."she said again, and he smiled at her as she continued to wipe the black gunk from her arms and neck. She took another long hard look at Deputy Parrish, who couldnt be more than a few years older than her. He was tall, with long strong arms that he folded over his chest cutely. He had a mysterious vibe to him, like he was looking _into _her instead of _at_ her, and it made her nervous. Then again, she always felt nervous near authoritative figures. Especially ridiculously attractive ones.

"What's a cop doing here anyways?" he had been momentarily distracted while she was attempting to clean up.

"Looking for him...Excuse me." he side stepped out of M.j.'s way to talk to a classmate who was lurking behind her. This didnt surprise her, she had found herself to be relatively invisible at school, or just in general. Which, at some points came in handy, it was amazing the things you would learn about when nobody notices you're there to begin with. She had caught Lydia Martin sucking face in various places around school more than once.

M.j. turned her attention back to Parrish, who had met with her classmate in the hallway and was now walking and talking with him. He was one of the boys she had mentioned to Alicia earlier, a lacross player (barely) and part of one of the cliques that dare not let anyone else in, much less give them the time of day. Stiles was his name. Or something like that. He was the Sherrif's son, she recalled vaugly. She kept a controlled distance from thier conversation, trailing just far enough behind that they wouldnt notice her but not so far that she couldnt hear them.

"...attacked a girl here at school before spewing that puddle on the floor and passing out. He attacked them once they got there they subdued him somehow." Parrish was saying as they walked, in a low hush.

"Liam has IED, but he wouldnt attack Scott like that. Whatever was making him leak werewolf goop was somehow making him over aggressive. Deranged almost" Stiles spoke in an even and concentrated tone, like everything he said he had already said twice inside of his head. He was tall and lanky, and looked like he could be the same age as Parrish though she knew he wasnt. They stopped at the end of the hall and M.j jumped behind the set of lockers a bit farther back than she would have liked. She strained her ears to listen.

"Well, I didnt come all the way down here to talk about Liam." Parrish dropped his voice lower, "theres something else, this morning I was doing traffic stops on the edge of the highway coming into town. Normally there isnt too much activity, so to be honest, I struggle to stay awake."

"Glad our tax dollars are being put to such great use." Stiles snorted.

"Just dont tell your dad. Anyways, today for some reason I felt...alert. I dont know why, I would say this is crazy-but I know better- I felt something coming. Like in my chest, a weird bad feeling I've never felt before, and then I saw something coming down the freeway. A big black dot speeding fast-way, way faster than the speed limit. As it got closer I saw it was a motorcycle a black one, a honda, and I got ready to chase it down. It had to be going about 120 or higher, and I had my lights on before it even passed. Once it did, it didnt stop, and I trailed it as fast as I could. Those crown vic's dont go nearly as fast as that bike did, and it didnt look like it would stop anytime soon. I picked up my radio to call for back up- mind you this is all happening fast, within seconds maybe three minutes tops for the chase and all- before I even pressed the button the bike swerved into the trees, off the road completely! I thought maybe they were suicidal,"

Stiles inturrupted, "The trees are thick there, nobody could survive that-"

"Well the could and they did, because they didnt crash." Parrish was picking up speed and force. He was frustrated that Stiles just wasnt understanding his story, but from Mj's point of view, it wouldve been hard for anyone to understand. Why was he telling this all to the Sheriff's kid? What could he do about it that the sheriff couldnt?

"When I pulled over to inspect the scene," he continued, "the bike was parked on the side of the woods, where it shouldve crashed going as fast as it was. But It wasnt that that freaked me out, so much as the big huge gray coyote that stood next to it. Big red eyes- _glowing_." Mj applauded Parrish's storytelling. He sounded genuinely concerned, and she felt genuinely concerned for his sanity. The hot ones always had a flaw. "It looked at me for a moment while I stood alone at the edge of the highway, then it turned and ran away."

"A coyote? Youre sure?" Stiles' voice was concerned now too.

"Yeah I think I know the difference between a wolf and a coyote. I went back to my car to look up the license plate for the vehicle, it belongs to someone with a huge list of open warrants. Looks like she's a contract killer-or suspected of being one. Goes by the name 'Desert Wolf'."

Stiles was silent for a minute. "You're sure?" he asked, hopefully.

"Positive. And look, I think it was a warning, or a message. Either way she's here. And she wants us all to know it."

As if on queue, Mj's phone decided to ring, loudly, from her hand. It echoed off the empty hallway as if someone had put it through a megaphone.

"Shit" she looked down at the screen 'ALICIA''s name blinked back at her, and she silenced it about ten seconds too late. Stiles and Parrish were peering at her from down the hallway and she shot them a stupid smile before turning away and practically jogging down the hall.

She answered her still ringing phone after sliding into the nearest womens restroom, without looking to see if they had followed.

"What the hell dude! Ive been looking everywhere for you! You'll never guess what I just heard!" she said quickly into the receiver.

"And you would never guess what I just saw!. I will pick you up after school, just meet me outside in the front." Alicia sounded tired and out of breath.

"You're not at school?!"

Alicia sighed, "I will explain everything later, trust me."


	5. Ch 4: Werewolves Exist

_hope you like it so far, feedback is appreciated. _

Chapter 4

Alicia took a deep breath as she sat down in the drivers side of her Jeep. She flipped down the visor in front of her to glance at her face in the mirror. Alicia had managed to get all the black goo off of her face, somehow, and now her damp hair made her head feel cool in the dry California air. Her hair hung lamely in long brown curls, and for some reason the lines in her face looked deeper, the bags under her eyes looked darker, and her eyes themselves looked tired. They had already seen 1000 impossible things, and she had yet to get any sort of explanation from Scott. At this point she didn't know if she would, and the logical, rational side of her brain wanted to grasp for any solution it possibly could. But she _had seen a boy with glowing eyes, long-fang like teeth, and huge menacing claws. _She shook her head, pushed her fingers into her eyes, and decided she would ask Scott to be honest and direct with her. And hopefully that would work. Hopefully he had the rational explanation she needed.

Scott paced outside of the parked vehicle talking into his cell phone heatedly. He was one of those people that seemed to speak with their whole body, arms flailing, head shaking, as he walked back and forth along the length of the Jeep.

Alicia flipped her visor back up, she couldnt stand to look at herself anymore. She realized her shirt and jeans were matted with black gunk and blood, and made a feeble attempt at wiping a bit off.

Scott finished his phone call and climbed into the front seat in silence. Alicia sighed when she realized she would need to change her clothes before her aunt saw her and asked a thousand questions, but pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She had a thousand questions of her own at the moment, but didnt even know where to begin. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

"Im sorry Alicia." Scott said, for the fourth time today. At least he was sincere.

"What exactly are you sorry for? because I dont even fully understand what just happened. " Alicia may have sounded a bit more spiteful than she meant to, but she was frustrated, tired, and most of all confused.

"Well...What did you understand?" Scott was avoiding talking to in depth, or at least trying to.

"I think I'm going crazy," Alicia put the keys in the ignition and began to pull out of the parking lot.

"I doubt that." Scott replied.

They sat in silence for a second while Alicia tried to gather her thoughts and drive.

"Are you going to make me say it then?"

Scott cleared his throat, "I dont know what you mean. Say what?" he was playing the stupid card.

"God youre so flippy floppy, do you want me to ask about what just happened or do you want me to pretend like I didnt just witness a kid turn into a…" she trailed off, "A…a fucking vampire- long nailed-chupacabra-thing or whatever the hell it was" she lost her steam towards the end of the sentence, not being able to find the words she needed.

"Flippy floppy? Not sure I know what you-"

"Oh you know what I mean Scott, shut up, or just, tell me whatever I need to know." Alicia pulled over on the side of the road and locked eyes with Scott. He was cute, he had a puppy dog face, with big brown eyes and a smile that sat sideways across it.

"Because otherwise I might just go down to the police station and ask them if I should press charges. Though, they may not even believe me."

"They'd believe more than you think."

Alicia rolled her eyes and looked away from him, "If you're going to just talk in circles then this conversation is over." She pursed her lips and went to turn the car back on, but Scott put his hand in front of the ignition and looked back at her.

"Look I trust you, okay? I mean, its hard not to after you trusted me so easily with Liam. You could have called an ambulance but you didnt. You took my word."

"Im beginning to regret that decision now." Scott winced her snarkiness, but went on talking.

"You just cant tell anyone. Nobody. Theres a few people who know at school, and around town, like Deaton. But theres other people too, that hunt us and the people we love."

"Youre still not making sense." And as she watched, it did, his eyes went from puppy dog brown to a deep and menacing red, instantly. They gleamed and glowed off the sun, like the eyes of a dog, or more so-"Werewolf. You're a fucking werewolf."

"Liam is too. Thats what you saw today, the eyes, the teeth, the claws." Scotts eyes went back to normal as he spoke.

"So thats what the bite-"

"No that was something different. I dont...I dont know what that was." He looked away, and she mouthed the word werewolf one more time.

"So like, once a month you- do you like attack people? Are you going to murder me and my family the next full moon and wake up naked in the middle of a field, no memory of the murder at all but for the sticky feel of blood covering your whole body."

"God, you have a vivid imagination." Scott laughed then, "No. No. Its not like that at all…"

**meanwhile, back at school…**

M.j. was the last person to pick up her bag and walk out of the classroom and into the hallway when the last bell of school rang. She was excited to meet up with Alicia and hear the news about whatever the reason she skipped school was. M.j. quickly walked over to her locker and unlocked it before unceremoniously tossing her bag inside, then closing it again. When she looked back into the hallway, her view was obstructed by a long legged tall girl with messy brown hair and a mischievous pair of eyes.

"Uhm, excuse me." Mj said with a plastic smile.

"We need to talk to you." the girl returned M.j's fake smile with an even faker one. She wasnt alone, she was with Stiles, and they began walking in pace with Mj.

"Awesome," Mj responded dejectedly. She had observed Stiles from a distance for years; not especially, but she was _somewhat_ attracted to him. Afterall, he was always nice and interesting and funny during class, only outside it, he seemed reserved. And here he was with his girlfriend, or so she guessed, by the way they exchanged glances. The girl was unfamiliar to her, although she thought maybe she had seen her around school before, she couldnt remember her being here before last year.

"I noticed you were following us earlier." Stiles replied.

Mj knew he was talking about her unstealthy moment earlier in the hallway, but decided to play dumb, "I dont even know you, why would I follow you?" She stopped walking to face them head on.

"Mj, I know you. Dont act stupid. We've gone to school together since the first grade. We had five classes together last semester." Stiles was looking at her from slitted eyes.

"Fooled me. Last time I remember, I havent talked to you in over four years."

Malia interjected, assertively, "Just give us an answer. Did you follow Stiles and the Deputy earlier?" She shifted her weight from one leg to the other when she spoke and put a hand on her waist. She was less curvy than Mj, and had more of a straight, rectangular body.

"No." Mj lied, and turned away. Malia put a hand on her shoulder, and Mj turned back around while rolling her eyes.

Stiles cleared his throat, "I know you followed us eariler. I just want to know what you heard Mj. I just need to know you wont repeat it." Malia still had her hand on Mj, as if to hold her in place.

"You know, I liked you better when you and Scott were a bunch of loser nobodies instead of the Princes of the school. I think Ive heard something somewhere about you guys threatening people, but I didnt realize you were so goddamn forward." Stiles lost his cool for a second.

"Nobody says anything-" he tried and was cut off by Mj's cold hard laugh.

"Everyone says _everything. This is highschool_. This is _beacon hills_. Look, I think you should know that I dont care what the hell you and the cop were talking about. Even if it was _about some sort of contract killer that could endanger the whole town_. Because honestly, your dad is the sheriff, and scotts dad is some sort of secret agent or some crap and even if I screamed it from the rooftops nobody would believe that our wonderful Sheriff could be hiding anything from us! Not even after years of abnormally high number of brutal murders or anything."

Stiles was pale and tight jawed, you could practically see the wheels turning in his head. He studied her carefully, his soft brown eyes never leaving her own green ones, both sets shooting daggers at the other. Malia tightened her grip on Mj's arm, and Mj stared back at them without flinching.

"Let her go." Stiles said after a minute.

"But-" Malia tried to argue but Stiles shook his head, motioning for her to let it go.

"Thank you your highness. I promise I wont stand too close to your royal backside ever again." Mj, did a miraculous and overdramatic fake bow before walking away in a fit of giggles. She may not be as tall and thin and perfect like Malia, but nobody could say she wasnt clever. Mj walked outside of school and stood out front, ready to put her rude classmates behind her and talk to Alicia, who had parked rather far from the entrance to school.


	6. Ch 5: Missing

**Chapter 5 **

Alicia was shaken awake by her bright eyed cousin at the ripe hour of 12:00 am, in the middle of the night. Mj stood over her, wearing a far too large gray sweater that hung down to her knees and a pair of combat boots. She had a black beanie on with a black scarf. She looked like a 12 year old dressing in her dad's clothes.

"What the hell M?" Alicia whispered plopping her head back onto the pillow.

"When we were in the car and you told me about that kid going crazy or whatever," Mj was talking in a rushed- breathy whisper, and she leaned in close to Alicia's face, "and I told you I would tell you the stuff I heard Stiles and the cop saying in the hall later."

"Im so not following at all. Cant we talk about this in the morning?" Alicia groaned.

"No. Its later now, and we should go now. I want to check something." Mj was still standing over Alicia, waiting for her to move. She tried to just go back to sleep, but she had always had a thing about people watching her while she slept, it was just creepy. So she got up and pulled a jacket on over her pj's before following her cousin out of the window of her room. They both hit the ground, one story below where they had been with a smooth jump, and Alicia climbed into her aunts car. Mj followed, and soon they were pulling out of the driveway slowly without the lights on.

"Where are we going then?" Alicia asked, not bothering to whisper now.

"When I was being a creep and following the hot cop and Stiles," she began a bit too fast.

"What is a Stiles?" Alicia was confused. She had sort of written her cousin off when she had picked her up, quickly coming up with a half-assed story as to what had happened with Liam, now that she had to keep Scotts secret. It made her feel bad lying to the one person who she was really close to, but she didn't think her cousin would believe her even if she tried to explain.

"Just this asshole guy. He's like the Sheriff's son or whatever, but everyone treats him like he's some sort of genius. I dont get it." Mj was leading Alicia out of town. They drove through the downtown area, passed the clinic where Alicia knew too well already, passed the big Beacon Hills hospital, and police station, and finally, rolled into an almost completely wooded area but for one single windey road that Alicia knew, lead out of town.

"So why was this police officer talking to this kid again?"

"Well, I dont exactly know _why_ he told the kid. Im still trying to figure that out, but heres _what_ he told him," Mj recounted the story she had heard Parrish say earlier.

Alicia was silent for a while after Mj spoke, not wanting to say anything about how potentially dangerous she knew that coyote-or werewolf- or whatever it was that rode the motorcycle could be. Afterall, she had seen one just like it face to face. She could still hear that deep growl coming from Liams throat. They were pulled over now, the end of the highway lay ahead of them and the road they came in on behind. Alicia pulled off the road and into the side where they were shielded from passerby by the tree cover

"Sounds dangerous." Her cousin sighed in response, so she added, in the lightest tone she could muster, "what do you think it means?"

"I dont know. I mean, they found a contract killer in Beacon hills and told a 17 year old, like that would make a difference…" She trailed off, and began to stare out the window aimlessly.

"Maybe he was attached to the person somehow or something. Like a family member or-"

"No its something different, I know it is. Look, theres stuff that happens here in Beacon Hills. Weird stuff. Remember I told you about all those dead bodies they kept finding, looked like sacrifices?" Alicia nodded halfheartedly from the front seat. "Well there's more, like a whole family turned up last year hacked to pieces, a girl got her head sliced off outside a school bus. Like ten years ago, a whole family was burned alive in their home! Only one person has been arrested for it, and they released him like later that day." she took a deep breath, "And then theres the animal attacks- tons, all of them brushed off as 'bears' or 'coyotes' or for the longest time- 'mountain lions'. Can you believe all that in one small town? And," Mj was gaining traction in her words, Alicia could tell she was excited, more excited than she had heard her be about anything. This must be it, this must be what Mj is always doing: research. And keeping all this bottled up inside her. She was bursting now, " and the cops are in on it too. Last year, I looked at some of the arrest records, they arrested three contract killers, and three more had dead bodies that they found in town. Thats six contract killers in one year-not counting this one. Not one thing in the media, AT ALL. Everything just brushed under the rug."

"I mean, I cant deny it looks pretty suspicious." Alicia believed her, she really did. She just couldnt tell her. It was unnerving, she wanted to rip out her own hair. Mj was driving herself crazy over something that would either-literally drive her crazy- or put her in some serious danger. She couldnt decide what to do- who's promise to keep and who to keep safe. Afterall, Alicia was about 110% sure that the second someone told Mj that werewolves were real she would go looking for one.

Alicia's thought process was interrupted by movement somewhere in front of them, a girl, ran along the otherside of the street, checking behind her periodically to make sure that she wasnt followed. She stayed close to the edge of the woods and her messy brown hair hung loosely about her. "Shhh" Alicia shushed Mj, and they both ducked down as far as they could while still being able to see the road.

The girl moved a bit farther away, before stopping to inspect something that was just out of thier line of vision. She then, bolted into the thick forest.

"Malia, thats Stiles' girlfriend I think!" Mj was excited, and Alicia felt more tired than she ever had in her life. She hadnt come to California to get torn to pieces by a werewolf, she thought back to what Scott had told her about them, which wasnt much. She realized all at once, that he had told her they could heal, but not what they were susceptible against. How tactful of him. Mj was still talking, "...Its like everything I've just said has been confirmed by seeing her right here. We need to follow her."

"No!" Alicia responded, a bit too quickly. "No way dude. We dont know whats in those woods, there could be anything."

"Headlights! Duck!" They both kept thier heads low, and watched as another car parked almost directly across the street from them, where Malia was just seconds ago.

"God, he drives a Jeep too." Mj said once the driver was in view. This Jeep was blue and smaller than the one they were in. A tall pale kid stepped out of the drivers seat, and Alicia's heart skipped a beat once the passenger stepped out.

"Shit . Its Scott." She wondered if wolves had super hearing and smell like real wolves. She hoped not.

Mj nodded, "and Stiles" she practically spat his name out.

By some stroke of luck, they didnt look across the street, but instead walked forward to where Malia had gone before, just out of view.

"Lets follow them." Mj was already getting out of the car when Alicia began her protest.

"No way, come on M…" but she was already outside and crouching behind the closest bush. Alicia reluctantly followed, realizing she wasnt wearing the right shoes for the woods far too late, and straining to listen to the conversation going on just ahead.

She could see Scotts legs and Stiles' shoes by the base of the motorcycle from a gap in the brush they crouched behind.

"...if I knew this would happen, I wouldnt of told her." the voice that she assumed was Stiles was saying.

Scotts legs moved around to where Stiles was standing, "Its alright, I will find her, Ive got her scent already." The began to move farther into the woods, and Mj and Alicia kept a safe distance behind.

It was darker under the cover of the trees and the moon sent and eerie silvery light upon everything they saw. Scott and Stiles were moving fast, and luckily, Stiles wasnt the most coordinated person because Alicia could easily hear his hard branch crushing steps from where they trailed behind.

"This doesnt make any sense at all." Mj was saying, "I mean, why would high school kids come out here, in the first place, and why is it always the same group of kids?"

The air was getting chillier as they trompted further into the woods. "Well, we are out here and we go to high school.." Alicia didnt feel like walking anymore, but she was worried for her cousin.

"Yeah, but we are following them. There's this girl Lydia they hang out with," she turned around as she walked, she was now walking backwards while talking to Alicia, so they were face to face, " and I swear dont call me crazy but she's psychic. She finds dead bodies, Alicia."

Alicia rolled her eyes, werewolves were one thing, but psychics? This was all too much, "Lets go home, Im cold and tired and we have school tomarrow."

"I just told you that the people we are trailing may be psychics and you want to go home. God your no fun." She was somehow maneuvering her body around trees and stepping over rocks while still facing Alicia. It was only a matter of time before she tripped and broke her ankle.

"Im fun, just not in the middle of the forest at 1 am." she paused for a second, then added "Did you ever think maybe Lydia finds bodies because she kills people? Because that would be my guess."

Mj shrugged, turned around, and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Whats wrong?" Alicia dropped her voice to a whisper, as she saw what Mj was looking at. It was a coyote, about ten feet ahead. It was looking dead at them.

Being from Connecticut, Alicia had never seen a coyote up close before, especially not this close. But she was sure she had read somewhere that they are roughly the size of a dog. Much smaller than the animal that stood before them, which was bigger than any wolf or dog or coyote she had ever seen or imagined. It had mangly gray fur, that was more matted in some places than others, and its right ear had a big bite out of it. As they watched, it _growled_, a deep low rumble that seemed to move the ground they stood on. Its eyes gleamed the same deep red Alicia had seen Scott's eyes turn.

"We should split up." Mj whispered, both of them still frozen in place.

"What?! No? Are you fucking kidding?!" her heart was beating fast in her chest, and her voice came out as more of just a deep exhale.

"It cant chase both of us, and if one of us can make it to the car- Just trust me we have a better chance if we split. If you get cornered then-"

Alicia cut her off, her whole body was shaking, "Mj, theres something I need to tell you-"

Mj was still talking, ignoring Alicia's words, "...on the count of three. One..."

"I dont think thats a coyote…"

But Mj wasnt listening, and Alicia wished she had given up the secret just ten seconds earlier. "you go that way," She motioned to where Scott and Stiles were still walking in the distance, "and I go this way," she pointed to the other direction, and as if on cue, the coyote started to charge. Its big yellow teeth beared at them angrily, and Mj bolted before Alicia could even point her feet the right way. The coyote immediately went the direction Mj went, and Alicia shrieked in horror.

She couldn't help but think that at least on some level she could have prevented this completely by just telling her cousin the truth- but she had kept Scotts secret, and this is what she got in payment. Her heart was still beating faster than ever, as she made the decision to follow the coyote- werewolf in hopes that she could somehow stop it from murdering her cousin.

She bounded ahead, smacking tree branches as she ran, she could still see Mj's blonde ponytail swinging ahead as she jumped over rocks and avoided shrubbery.

"Im behind you!" she yelled ahead, but Mj didnt look back, she was going deeper into the woods, into the darker thicker section, and Alicia was losing track of her quick. She could see the big coyotes huge footprints in the soil, see the end of its tail disappear behind a shadow every now and then. Alicia kept running, her vision getting blurred by tears, and she heard a scream in the distance.

The treeline tightened around Alicia as she tried to run faster, and she was forced to slow down. She lost view of Mj completely now and she frantically stopped running for a moment to spin around and try and get a good view in any direction. It was almost completely pitch black now, and the canopy of trees overhead blocked out the moon.

"Alicia?! What are you doing out here?" Scott came running from somewhere to her left, not even a bit out of breath.

Alicia was hysterical, "I...I...We…" hot, salty tears streamed down her face as she tried to catch her voice, "...my cousin is being chased by a...a...werewolf or something…i cant…" Alicia pointed in the direction they went, and Scott bolted after them, jumping over rocks and avoiding trees in a way that no human ever could. If anyone could save her, she thought anxiously, Scott could.

Alicia waited for him in the spot where she had first stopped, and was soon joined by Stiles, who stumbled in five minutes later out of breath and sweating profusely.

"I may be…out...of..shape...to be honest…" Stiles said in between gasping breaths.

"Scott hasnt come back yet." Alicia was still staring into the empty darkness just a few feet ahead where the trees thickened. There hadnt been a sound from that direction since Scott left. "Whats going on here Stiles?"

The kid looked taken aback, "What? I dont know! Wait, who are you again?" he had tiny eyes that squinted when he spoke.

"Alicia." she sniffled.

"Right. You're the girl who Liam attacked." Stiles nodded, and leaned against a tree close to her, he looked upwards at the tree tops overhead.

"Yes."

"You shouldnt be out here." he had dropped his snarky somewhat lighthearted undertone.

"I followed my cousin, Mj, who was following you. I tried to stop her, but she probably would have come out here either way."

Stiles sighed and rubbed his temples, "I tried to talk to her about what she heard but-"

"but you didnt try and talk at all, you just threatened her with your tall girlfriend and your father and who knows what else," Alicia was rounding on Stiles, she turned away from the dark woods finally and turned to him, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction.

"Look I dont know you or your friends or whatever, but I dont think you realize the effect you have on this town, you know what Mj was telling me when we were on the way over here? She talked about murders, animal attacks, sacrifices, crimes," she was stepping closer and closer to him with each word, "and a whole boatload of crazy shit, and there in the middle of all that crap- is you and your friends. Have you ever thought what it would be like for someone who doesnt know werewolves exist?"

"I...I guess I never thought about it that way," Stiles held his hands up, Alicia's finger was pointed into his chest.

"Well you should!" she dropped her hand, "You should be more careful, find a way to cover your tracks. Because you know, I have a feeling if I would have told the little bit I do know about Beacon Hills, I could have maybe, I dont know…"

"Im sure shes fine."

They looked at eachother for a moment, standing uncomfortably close. He was tall, much taller than Alicia, and she had to strain her neck to look up this close. She finally turned away, and watched the darkness for movement in silence.

It was Scott who broke it finally, running in abnormally fast and pausing to shake his head at Alicia.

"I lost her. Im sorry." He spoke mournfully, shaking his thick brown hair, "Lets go, its late and dangerous out here, we will come back in the morning with help."

"Wha...I cant just leave her out here-" her voice was cracking as she spoke, and Scott had a gentle hand on Alicia's back pushing her forward. But she wouldnt budge. She began to side step Scott, and head for the wilderness herself, determined to find her cousin. But every step she took, she found Scott in front of her, shaking his head and trying to turn her around. "Just get out of my way!" she said finally, yelling in his face, as he winced back.

"Stop. Look at me." He put his face close to hers, putting his strong hands firmly on her shoulders. She looked past him, to the trees behind, which seemed so much bigger now that she couldnt see Mj's blonde hair flashing in the distance. She felt more tears streaming down her face. She couldnt stop picturing her cousin alone in the woods, as a huge werewolf man-beast devoured her whole. It would be her fault. Everything was always Alicia's fault. If only she had told her..

Scott cupped her chin in his hands, they were big and square and warm, and she looked at him through teary eyes. "We will find her. I wont let anything bad happen to her. Or you. We just arent going to have any luck in this darkness, Okay?"

Alicia took a deep breath and nodded in response, only half believing him. But she knew he was right, it was dangerous and dark, and she was unfamiliar with the woods. They wouldn't have any luck right now. So they headed out of the woods despondently. Stiles trailing behind Scott and Alicia, dejectedly calling out Malia's name. His voice echoed back at them, and a thin layer of fog rolled in over thier ankles. Alicia felt like she was in a dream climbing into her Aunts car, alone, hoping she would hear Mj calling her from the distance. She didnt. Instead, she went home and laid awake until morning.


	7. Ch 6: Easy Rescue

**Chapter 6 **

Alicia anxiously got into the car as the sun rose. September in California meant that the nights were still comfortably warm, and by the time the sun burnt off the morning fog, it would be sweltering. Now, chunks of fog and dew still sat in the morning air as she drove, with the window down, a bit over the speed limit. Alicia had decided, after a long night, to leave at first light whether or not Scott would go with her. It wasnt until she was leaving that she realized, she had no way of contacting him, besides going to school- which at this point would be counterproductive.

She tried not to think of the word 'werewolf' or 'bite'; she tried not to think of claws, long, sharp and angry. But it was no use. She could barely concentrate on the road through the vivid images of her cousin, mauled, bleeding, and alone.

The road into the woods was windy and unforgiving, but once she was through those, the highway ahead seemed too straight, expansive and empty. She stopped before the highway began, where she had been last night with Mj. It looked much different in the morning light, bright, and getting brighter with every moment. She wasnt scared like she was the night before, instead, determined. She would find her cousin today. She swore it silently as she slammed the front door and began a tromp into the woods, keeping her eyes and ears peeled for anything.

It was harder once she stepped off the road to try and retrace their steps. The forest during the day seemed to be an entirely different place. She heard birds chirping at the sunrise, the low layer of fog around her feet still hung in the air, but last night it seemed menacing, while in the morning it seemed magical. Alicia stopped and spun around, trying to picture Mj, last night, walking backwards, over rocks and around trees. But it was no use, everything now seemed green and soft and-well for lack of a better word- woodsy. Last night, all she could remember was darkness.

She could see behind her, the Jeep on the road, and the opposite direction, and three mile long thick area of wood. They could have been anywhere along these woods last night. She had to have at least ran a good half a mile after Mj and the coyote, and she couldnt gage what direction they were even going.

She decided to press on, if she had to comb the whole forest, then she would. Once Alicia began walking again, towards the thicker wood, she noticed the birdsong had dwindled, and an eerie silence surrounded her. She had an uncomfortable feeling, like she was being watched.

"Hello?" she had only gone a few feet before stopping again to look around.

Nothing gave her a response.

She began walking again, trying to find solace in the sound of her shoes crunching against the leaves that cluttered the floor. She was nervous now, and picked up her pace.

The sun was getting higher in the sky, and the trees bathed in it. Soft rays of sunshine shot out from gaps in the overhead canopy, sending shadows dancing overhead, and on the ground below her.

There was one in particular that caught her eye, ten paces ahead, it moved quicker, and out of pace with the sun. At first she thought maybe it was a squirrel in a tree overhead, but when she moved closer, and it continued forward, where the sun was, she realized it wasnt a shadow at al. _It was the end of a tail. _

She began to jog, keeping up with the shadow figure, which was obviously a dog shape now, a large black dog. It ran faster when she began to jog, so she ran faster too. She gained a bit of distance, she had always been mildly athletic, and she saw the wolf glance back at her through light blue eyes.

Then all at once, it went behind a tree and didnt come out. Disappeared into thin air. She paused when she reached the last spot she had seen, touching the tree lightly with the tip of her fingers and cocking her head to the side.

"You cant chase a wolf."

The voice came from behind her, it was a deep and sultry voice, and unlike Scott's worried/young undertones, this sounded like it belonged to someone mature- for lack of a better word- it was a mans voice. She spun around, he stood nonchalantly with his back leaning against a tree, he wore a smirk and a leather jacket with a deep set v neck. He had a scruffy demeanor, with a five o clock shadow that accentuated his high cheek bones, and short black hair that was rumpled a bit in the front.

She smirked back, "I must have skipped that page in my werewolf manual," she paused as the man raised his thick black eyebrows, "...oh right, I never got one of those!"

He took a few steps forward, and looked Alicia up and down, his eyes seemed to stay on her a little too long. He made her feel nervous, naked, exposed in just that moment, and when his eyes finally met hers, he held out a huge hand.

"Derek Hale. Im guessing you're Alicia." he said, as he took her tiny hand in his own and shook.

"Im looking for my cousin." She said, almost forgetting why she was there. She remembered with a sinking feeling, that her cousin was still here somewhere in the woods.

"Me too." Derek replied, pulling something out of his back pocket. A shirt, specifically, Mj's shirt. Alicia recognized it instantly, Mj always cut off the lining of everything, always cursing the manufacturer for adding collars onto T-shirts.

"Where did you get this?" She snatched it from his hands.

"From your house, this morning, after you left." He said it matter of factly, like breaking and entering was just an everyday pastime. Derek walked past her, and towards where she had seen him heading before, but now he paused to let her follow as they talked.

"You went into my house, and looked through my cousin's stuff to find her shirt?" Alicia was slack jaw with disbelief. These people were crazy. Would it not have been easier to ask for such things?

"Yeah, to find her scent, which is what we are following now." Derek was picking up the pace, and Alicia struggled to keep up, her legs were short, and his were long and muscular, shoved into tight jeans. She tried not to watch them as they walked, muscles tightening and loosening beneath fabric. He had a nice butt, she decided.

"Creepy."

"Its creepy that I went in your house and took your cousins clothes, but not creepy that I can change into the skin of a wolf?"

"At least you didnt take her underwear, I guess."

"I didnt think of it." Derek said with another smirk. They continued in silence for a while, and Alicia kept her eyes peeled for any evidence of her cousin. All she could see were trees, rows and rows of trees. If she had been out here alone, she would be completely lost. Derek, on the otherhand walked with a determined step, and would pause to turn his head haphazardly, or touch a nearby tree. He often furrowed his thick eyebrows before motioning for them to move on, in this or that direction

"So, can you smell her?" Alicia asked, getting more worried with every passing moment.

"Yeah, I think sometimes I can hear her too. But its faint. Distant and close at the same time." He looked confused, then added, "I should probably tell you also, that you shouldn't be out here, its dangerous. But Im guessing its not going to make a difference…"

"Nope." Alicia finished.

"Right." They trudged on for a few more steps. Then he said, holding out an outstretched arm "We're close. Scotts already here I think."

"Scott came out too?" Alicia's face felt flushed.

"Ofcourse! He was the one who called me out here."

Alicia felt safer somehow with the knowledge that Scott was here, somewhere. Derek was big and wolflike, but it was Scott's humanity that appealed to Alicia most. She felt like they had a strange sort of connection, despite the fact that she had just met him the day before. _One day. _That was all that had passed. She felt like it had been ten years since yesterday morning. She felt older somehow, and entwined into something she wasn't getting out of, but instead deeper into. They rounded a corner, and the trees spread out into a clearing immediately. In the center of the clearing stood Scott, brown eyes focused on the structure of wood and rock in front of him, that lead underground.

He had his arms folded across his chest, and Alicia noticed for the first time, that he had two thick blank bands tattooed on his forearm. His hair hung in tufts about his face, and the bags under his eyes looked deeper. Derek and Alicia both meandered over to Scotts side, where he promptly turned his head to scold her.

"Its too dangerous out here. You shouldnt have come. We dont know who is in there."

"Well, If Mj is in there, its my business to be here. I dont care if its dangerous. You could have come and got me you know. Or at least said something, since you guys were lurking outside of my house and all."

"Inside, actually" Derek said.

"Dont remind me." she said, then she turned to Scott. "Its my fault shes in trouble, and Im not leaving until she is safe."

The sun shone hard onto their backs as they stepped into the mouth of the mine, and Alicia was sweating from the hike there. The inside of the mine was a relief, it was cool in there but almost impossibly dark. The ground was a rubble or loose rock, their shoes slipped and slid on it, and Alicia found herself almost falling as soon as they were passed the point where the light from the outside reached. Scott caught her, his eyes glowing red as he turned his wolf vision on.

He put his hand over her own, and led her forward, "Keep close to me." he said, and she obeyed without argument. She was scared, the air inside the mine was damp and stale, but her eyes were adjusting quickly. Alicia could make out a thick layer of ash and dirt coating the inside of the walls, which were entirely a rough rock. She could make out a turn ahead, and it led farther downwards, once they got there, the mine seemed to open up a bit farther, so they could all walk side by side comfortably. Scotts grip on her hand tightened, and she looked up to see the familiar gray coyote they had chased last night, looking at them from across the room.

Derek immediately pounced, changing miraculously as he did from a man to a wolf. The change started from his face and followed his spine backwards. His arms got longer, and his legs shorter, black hair thickening as he did, until he skidded onto the rocky floor in a growl, a full fledged huge black wolf.

The coyote growled back, and ran, Derek bounding after it. Scott and Alicia ran after them, but they were faster, turning corners and heading deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of a mine. They would never be able to keep up with them, not with Alicia slowing Scott down. She tried to yank her hand from Scott's grip, but he was stronger.

"We're losing them!" she shouted as they ran, breathing heavily and trying to focus through the panic.

"We didnt come here for them" Scott shouted back, and then he turned unexepctedly, completely out of the room that Derek and the coyote were running through, and into a new room, much smaller than the large underground expansions they had just been going through. This one lead upwards, it was more of a shaft than a room at all, the size of a small bathroom maybe. In the corner, there was a wooden chair that looked very much out of place, a pile of rope sat at its base. Behind the chair, rock walls and a metal rung ladder lead up, all the way to a circular metal door that looked to be to the outside. It hung open. Light shone down the dark shaft at them.

Scott smiled at Alicia, a black spot of soot on the center of his cheek, "She's up there." He said, and let her go up the metal latter first. She climbed the rungs two at a time, sucking in the fresh air coming from above and calling out Mj's name with every step. She reached the top, and clambered out of the hole in the ground to see Mj standing just above the hole. Alicia ran over to her, Scott coming in behind her.

"Mj!" she said smiling wide.

Mj scowled at her, cocked her fist back, and _punched her directly in the face_.


	8. Ch 7: Punch

_I have decided to write kira out of this fanfic, just a heads up. _

**Chapter 7**

Mj was furious. She was furious that she had been locked in an underground mine by an over-talkative-coyote woman. She was furious that she had been completely wrong about Scott and his friends. She was furious that she hadnt figured out about the werewolves sooner. But mostly, she was just pissed at Alicia.

Alicia, who she shared blood with, Alicia who was her supposed 'best friend', had left her in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night. Mj had been captured by a werewolf, and her friend had decided to leave with the captain of the lacrosse team. She couldn't think of anything less bestfriendish than that.

The night itself, wasnt too bad. In fact, she had learned alot by talking to the Desert Wolf, mostly that everything she ever knew was a lie, but that was beside the point. This was the first person in her life who had nothing to lose by telling her the truth, and so she did. Granted, she was more looking for information rather than trying to give Mj some, but it had worked out in both of thier favors. In the morning, the desert wolf had untied Mj and told her she could find her way out, then disappeared into the mine.

Mj had climbed from the manhole, covered in soot and smelling of coal, and walked to the road. She saw Alicia's Jeep, and another familiar vehicle parked next to it. Stiles's thin figure leaned casually onto it, and Mj cleared her throat as she approached.

Stiles jumped, "God...for a second I thought you were..."

Mj's eyes were slits, "...a werewolf maybe? or a pack of them perhaps?" she tilted her head to the side.

Stiles smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head, "...I...dont know what your talking about?" he used a flat tone.

"Cut the shit Stilinski. The Desert Wolf told me about your teen wolf friends."

Stiles sighed, his shoulders relaxed and he dropped his arms. He looked relieved somewhat, "You know everyone is looking for you right now?"

"Fat lot of good that will do now. She let me go."

He shook his head, "What? Why?"

Mj shrugged, "She was looking for information mostly. She thought I was your girlfriend at first-"

"Why would she think that?" he looked taken aback, "Ive never even met her."

"No, " Mj pushed her fingers into her eyes. This kid was a nightmare to talk to, "She thought I was Malia dumbass."

He dropped eye contact, looking at the ground quietly, "Right. I thought maybe she wouldve been there…"

"I didnt see her the whole time I was there. Which was all night by the way. Because you guys left." Mj was trying not to sound as bitter as she felt and failing miserably. It didnt matter anyway, its not like these people were her friends.

Stiles cleared his throat, "Maybe you should show me where she was keeping you. Scott will have probably tracked you there."

Mj turned around and they began to walk off the road back into the forest. She watched him carefully, he was pale and scrawny, but there was something about him. The way he moved was enchanting, like he was taking in everything for the first time. He looked around him while he walked, forever conscious of his environment, forever keeping eyes behind as well as forward him. His nose was a little upturned, and it made his face look almost childish.

"It must suck." Mj said, when they had gotten to the clearing with the manhole.

Stiles exhaled, and they both stood awkwardly around the hole in the ground, waiting. "What sucks?" he said, after hesitating a moment too long. He looked worried, preoccupied with his thoughts, which she guessed revolved around Malia. She was almost jealous. _almost. _

"I mean, being the only human in a group of werewolves, always feeling weak...left behind or a burden."

Stiles and Mj peered down the manhole, it was empty. She could see the chair where she had been tied up all night uncomfortably. The thick ropes that were around her wrists sat next to it, and she observed her wrists in the light of day. There was a small rope burn on each one as she had expected.

Stiles watched her watch her hands, and took one of them in his own to inspect it. She felt inclined to his touch, his hands were soft and bigger than hers. Her skin looked dark next to his, she had an olive undertone, and his was a light pink. She wanted to rip her hand from his and pull him closer all at once.

"I had a chance and I didnt take it." he dropped her hand. Footsteps echoed from inside the manhole somewhere. They stepped back, incase the desert wolf was still down there in the hole.

"Do you regret it?"

Stiles shook his head, "Scott could give me the bite whenever he wants."

"Yeah, but what do you want..?"

Voices echoed out of the hole now, it sounded like Alicia's voice. She was with them! She had come back! _But she still had left her_. Mj was conflicted.

"Sometimes…" Stiles trailed off, then came back, "I dont know. I dont know what I want." he sounded like a weight rolled off his chest as he said it. "I guess, nobody's ever asked me what its like to be best friends with Scott. But sometimes its worse than others." Mj wasnt entirely sure what he meant, but she had a loose idea.

"It gets cold, standing in someone's shadow." He looked at her really, for the first time, when she said that, and opened his mouth to say something in reply. But he was drowned out by the sound of Alicia coming out of the hole.

"Mj!" she was calling as she came up.

Mj mentally prepared herself.

Sometimes it was too easy for anger to get the best of her, and Mj was still halfway between furious and upset. Throughts raced through her head, she kept thinking of the words _left _and _alone_ and '_bestie'_ , in the heat of the moment they all seemed congruent. She would calmly confront her cousin, and ask her why she left, and then she would give her reasoning and everything would go back to normal. Or at least those were the last thoughts she had come up with before everything went downhill. All it took was one of Alicia's famous gap-tooth, big-lipped smiles to send Mj off the edge. Alicia had barely even taken two steps before Mj realized that her fist was careening, mid air, directly into Alicia's face.

When it hit, Mj remembered that she had never been in a fight before. She had tucked her thumb somewhere below her fingers, and it sent a shock that travelled all the way up her arm instantly. But she was still mad, or some driving force in her was still mad- because she was suddenly screaming, angrily, and forcefully at Alicia. Alicia had fallen back onto the floor, more from shock than the force of impact (which was, to Mj's embarrassment, minimal).

"You punched me in the face?!" Alicia rubbed the spot where Mj's fist had connected with her cheek, stunned.

"You left ME TO DIE IN THE FUCKING WOODS" Mj advanced on Alicia again, but this time, Alicia saw her coming and hopped onto her feet. She was shorter than Mj, but she was stronger. Mj continued to advance, "Not to mention that you fucking LIED to me. For what? For a goddamn boy?" She shot daggers at Scott, who had moved between the two girls. This was just as much his fault as Alicia's.

"Do you even know me Mj? Would I fuckin' do that?" Alicia was mad now too, Mj could see it in her face, which was flushed, making her normally smooth complexion splotchy and red.

"I dont know if I even know you anymore. You know I thought you moving here would bring us closer together but now I realize Im just an expendable peice of shit. Not even worth looking for when you strand her in the woods."

Alicia reached around Scott and shoved Mj, sending her almost flying backwards. She was shaking from rage, Mj could see her eyes getting wet with angry tears.

"I looked for you! How could you even fucking say that?!"

"Stop!" Scott said, too late. He looked like he didnt know what to do, he kept glancing from Mj to Alicia to Stiles-who was lurking somewhere in the back. He kept clenching his fists and then unclenching them, putting his hands in front of the two girls and then dropping them.

"Dont touch me, Scott, youre just as bad as her." Mj's voice was getting hoarse from yelling. "All the shit thats been happening to our town is your fault! How many peoples lives are on your hands already? And you were so quick to add my name to that list!"

"We came back for you, we're here arent we?!" Alicia yelled back but Mj was already blind with rage, she shoved Alicia back, hard. Alicia stumbled backwards, and Mj advanced farther, cocking her fist back for another punch, tears streaming down her face.

She was stopped by two arms circling around her and quite literally plucking her off the ground. Her feet dangled beneath her and she kicked and squirmed to get out of his grip.

"Calm down." Stiles' voice said in her ear, hot breath on her neck.

He was suprisingly strong for someone who looked so small, and she realized all at once that he wasnt small at all. He was almost two feet taller than her, and his scrawny arms were really double the size of her own. He moved easily with her in her arms, and spun around so his back was to Alicia and Scott. Mj could see them backing out of the field, Scott leading Alicia away as she continued to glance back, opening her mouth to speak but saying nothing.

Mj let out a growl of frustration, "Fuck you! Fuck you all!" she called to Alicia's back. There wasnt a reply.

She stood stupidly there, with Stiles facing her as she stared into the woods, crying-half out of frustration and half out of self pity.

After a moment she gathered herself. She felt strange. Empty, broken, and full of water. She was hungry and tired and confused.

"Maybe I shouldn't have hit her." She confessed finally, more to herself than to Stiles. "I felt-feel...I dont know-" she realized she didn't even have her cell phone on her.

"...scared. I think thats the word you're looking for." Stiles said finally, his voice a bit uneven. The he added after a second, "I think we're all a little scared."

"I just want to get out these woods and go...somewhere. Anywhere but here." Mj felt claustrophobic with Stiles in front of her and the woods surrounding her, with the weight of last night and what just happened coming down all around her.

"C'mon, I'll give you a ride home." he said in response, leading her from the woods with a wave of his hand. She was glad he had stayed and even more glad he hadnt said anything about Alicia. She was still angry at him, and Scott and all of them, but she was also tired. She needed to go home and sleep. _But things never went how you planned in Beacon Hills…_


	9. Ch 8: Dead Already

_**(note from author: i dont know anything about medicine so this is all just stuff I pulled out of my ass forgive me!)**_

Chapter 8

Alicia and Scott didnt go from the woods to thier houses or back to school, but instead to the Veterinarian, whom Alicia had learned was named Deaton. They rode in silence most of the way, Alicia driving and Scott in the front seat with the window down. It was a hot day, and even with the car going an even 45, the air blowing about was uncomfortably warm. Alicia's cheek throbbed with the force of Mj's punch, and she couldnt stop hearing the sound of her voice inside her head. _I dont even know if I know you anymore. _If Mj didnt know her, than who did?

"We left without Derek." Alicia said finally, when they had reached the edge of town. She wondered hpw pften this had happened, how many people actually survived a werewolf imprisoning them. She thought back to what Mj had told her about all the murders.

"Derek will be okay." he sighed, "Im sorry about what happened back there."

"Its not your fault...entirely." She couldnt say it wasn't his fault. It was his fault. It was her fault. Everyone was at fault.

"I never wanted anyone to get hurt. Its just, it never turns out the way we plan. All I have ever tried to do was the right thing. " Scott was talking without any sense of direction. She had a feeling he was talking just to talk. "And you know what Alicia?" she liked the way her name rolled off his tongue, like he was meant to say it. "I'm begining to think there is no 'right answer'. Everything anyone does has this...I dont know…" he made an odd gesture with his hands.

"...Ripple effect?" Alicia guessed. They pulled into the Vet's parking lot, but stayed in the car. Scott still lost in his rant.

"Yes, well no-" he turned to look at her, he looked hurt, scattered, like he was in a hundred places at once, "Its like that guy from Greek mythology who was punished for eternity, what was his name?" he paused for a second to gather his thoughts, Alicia had no idea who he was talking about, "...Sisyphus?" He ansered his own question, his voice was picking up momentum, "That was his name. Everyday at sun up he would wake up to see a huge boulder in front of him, and everyday he would push the boulder all the way up this massive mountain. And it took him the whole day. And at the end of every day, he would reach the tallest point on the mountain with his huge boulder- only to watch it roll all the way back down again. Then he woke up the next day and did it again. Over and over, for all of eternity. " He took a deep breath. "I'm Sisyphus. No matter how much I try and push the boulder up the goddamn mountain, it just keeps falling back down. We go after Malia, and you guys get in trouble, I go after you guys, and lose Malia. I try and save you and lose your friend. Its frustrating."

Alicia wasn't surprised that he lost his cool, he was afterall a leader, it was obvious with everything he did. Scott wasn't just a werewolf or an alpha or whatever the hell, he was a hero. He was _**the**_ hero. But it wasn't fair. He was also still a kid. She wondered when he had gotten so old, when he was forced to take on everyone's problems.

"Scott," she sighed. She felt comfortable with Scott, and for the first time, she thought he felt comfortable with her. He was looking up to her for an answer, emotion seemed to leak from his pours, while his face held the same lax expression he always wore. He looked like a lost puppy. "Sometimes, maybe its best just to leave the boulder be. Sometimes, its best to let people make mistakes. Maybe you would have caught up with Malia if Mj and I didnt get in trouble, but maybe you would have just been out there all night with no luck. I guess what Im trying to say is, as cliche as it sounds, you can't save everyone, and as long as you try to, the boulder will always roll back down the mountain."

Scott nodded at her, "Thanks." he said, but sounded insincere. She didnt think he would understand, he seemed to be the sort of person that can only worry about other people. She watched his hand on the center console, and dared to put her hand over his. She squeezed it, it was warm beneath her tiny cold one.

"Thank you for coming out there this morning." Alicia added, a little late, with a shy smile.

He smiled back, and laced his fingers through her own before squeezing her hand. They sat like that for a few moments.

Alicia wished she could see what was going on in his head. She could tell he missed things being simple, could tell that he hadnt asked for any of this. Scott was a good person, he was just thrust into a horrible situation. It cant be easy lying about who you are to the world, especially when the world was hellbent against you.

"Lets go check on Liam." he said finally.

The inside of the clinic was darker than it had been when they were there yesterday, and a familiar foul smell greeted them upon entry. It was the smell that had been coming from Liam's bite, the smell of rotting flesh. Scott scowled as soon as they walked in, pulling up the bottom of his collar to cover his nose. Alicia couldnt help but stare at the tiny bit of stomach that Scott revealed, chisled and hard and muscular. Her legs felt like jello.

"God, that smell is horrible." His eyes were watering, and the farther they walked into the clinic, the more he shook his head and covered his mouth. Finally, with Scott struggling to breath, they reached the room they had been in with Liam yesterday. Almost as soon as they walked in, Scott was gagging through his hands, tears streaming down his face.

"I have to go." He said running from the room to the bathroom. Alicia wasnt half as affected by the smell as Scott, and stepped into the room easily (though uncomfortably). Deaton stood over a still unconscious Liam, wearing a pair of blue gloves that stretched down to his elbows. They were almost completely covered in blood. He had a mask on, and syringes on the table next to him.

When Alicia got closer, she noticed a bowl of what looked like water and blood on the table next to Deaton. She could see Liams chest rising and falling, he was alive- barely. He laid in a heap of glack goo, which still drizzled from his wound.

"You look like a mad scientist." Alicia said, looking at Deaton up and down, elbow deep in blood. There was a scalpel in one of his hands.

"To be honest, I'm feeling like one. Ive been cutting rotten flesh from that bite since this morning."

Alicia scowled, "Are you sure thats what you should be doing? I mean, what's wrong with him?"

Deaton sighed, putting his scalpel down, "Can you grab me some gauze from that closet?" Alicia went to the closet in the far corner of the room and opened the metal door to reveal a large closet full of various medical supplies. "And to answer your question no. I have no idea if this is right or wrong." he sounded sure of himself, confessing this, which seemed ironic.

Alicia found the guaze and walked back over to Deaton, he began to fill the wound with it.

"But, I think youre right. This...poison?" he shook his head, "virus? Its strikes a chord with rabies, but Werewolves are immune to disease for the most part. No..." he almost sounded like he was thinking out loud. Alicia had always been fascinated by medicine, and Deaton seemed to reguard her with the air of peer. It was funny how all the adults in this town seemed to assume all these teenagers were adults. But she could see how someone could think that of Scott. He had a fatherly air to him, despite being 17.

"It could have been...mutated. I mean, as far as I understand," she cleared her throat, "when a virus passes through someone it changes, couldn't this just be...an advanced sort of rabies?" She stole another glance at the bite on the boy, it looked to be the average size of a dog bite. The teeth marks were consistent, not too long, not too big.

Deaton shook his head, "Good observation, and thats quite possible. But I dont think this was made organically." He was almost done wrapping the boy back up, the bite was almost entirely covered

"I always thought a wolf bite would be bigger." she thought out loud.

"Oh they are. Much bigger. And werewolves? Even bigger. This bite didn't come from a wolf or a werewolf. Liam was bitten by his own dog. Looks to be about, three or four days old. He probably didn't even think twice about it. If he would wake up, he could tell us himself."

Scott appeared in the doorway looking pale. "Why wouldnt he tell me he wasnt healing?" then he added, God it still smells unbearable in here." He took a few steps back.

"Its a confusing enough being a teenager throw in shapeshifting, and who knows? He could have just been waiting for it to get better." Alicia could still hardly believe she was having this conversation so lightly.

Scott burped from the hallway, "Excuse me." he groaned.

"She's right. We wont know forsure what happened until he wakes up." he looked at Liam again, long and hard. There was already glack goop seeping from

Scott coughed from the doorway, "I think I might throw up again." He walked from the doorway in a haze.

"Alicia, do you smell that?" Deaton looked from Scott to Alicia, then back at Alicia.

"Yeah, but I mean, its not that bad. I think he's overreacting a bit…" She was inturrupted by the sound of Scott's body hitting the floor with a hard "THUMP" in the hallway.

"Hes not overreacting. He's being poisoned-" we both ran from the room, to find Scott face first on the floor.

"We need to get him outside of the building." Deaton ripped his gloves off haphazardly, sliding his arms under Scotts, Alicia grabbed Scotts feet and they half carried half dragged him through the hallway and towards the backdoor. His skin was feverish and wet, and his head lolled to the side. He had thrown up all over the front of his shirt, the same thick black liquid that Liam's side was leaking. He wasnt breathing.

"Whats happening to him?" Alicia asked frantically as they swung open the backdoor and let the sun and fresh air hit them. She could feel her heartbeat throughout her whole body, hear it beating fast in her eardrums. She was shaking, she wanted to slap Scott and kiss him all at once. If he died here, she wouldnt be able to live with herself.

"Im not sure…" Deaton practically slammed Scott onto the concrete, and as soon as he did, Scott inhaled, opening his eyes with a flutter. He coughed in the fresh air, spitting out more black mush as he did. He slowly sat up, and Alicia instantly hugged him around the neck. He hugged her back, before she could pull away from embarrassment.

"You smell good." he said groggily, wrinkling his forehead against the sunlight and looking up at Alicia.

She laughed, "Thanks."

Deaton broke their moment by clearing his throat, he looked worried, he rung his hands, and glanced back to the clinic behind him. "You need to find out what this is. If that stuff is surging through Liam's body right now…"

"He's gunna die soon." Alicia finished.

Deaton shook his head,_ "He should be dead already."_


	10. Ch 9: Second Infection

**Chapter 9**

Mj climbed into Stiles' Jeep. It was smaller than the one Alicia drove and more built for an off-roading environment. Mj no longer surged with adrenaline from the fight, and now just felt numb to everything. Her eyes drooped as soon as she sat down, and she yawned wide to try and fight to stay awake.

"So what exactly did the desert wolf tell you?" he asked finally. She could tell he had been rolling the question around in his head for the last few minutes, waiting for the right moment to spill it out.

"Alot? Nothing?" she was too tired to get into the details.

Stiles shot her a look, rolling his eyes while turning the car on.

Mj sighed and went on, "I dont know? She asked me alot about Scott…" Stiles started driving out of the wooded area slowly, half focusing on Mj and half on the road.

"What did you say?" he responded immediately. God he was _naggy_. She turned her eyes to the road, since he seemed to be looking anywhere but there. It was hot outside, and they were getting closer to the edge of town, the trees were thinning, but not gone yet. She saw movement in the forest next to them, almost keeping pace with the speed of the car, but weaving in between the trees. She tried to focus on the figure, which looked like a it was getting closer to the road. It looked like a shadow almost, black, and flowy and fast.

"Hello Mj! I asked you a question?" Stiles was saying, looking from her to the road, then her again.

The figure was almost to the road now, and it was definitely following them. She could see it better now, erratically bumping into trees, barrelling out of the treeline ahead of them. It was outlined perfectly against the bright sun, three yards ahead a huge, scruffy, black...

"WOLF!" Mj said her eyes getting wider with every second.

"Well obviously she knew Scott is a wolf, is that all you-"

"No! In front of us, dumbass!"

Stiles' eyes flicked to the road at the exact right moment. "Shhhiiiiiiiiiiittttttt" he said, slamming on his breaks and spinning the wheel to get out of the way. The car did a full circle around the wolf or maybe over it, she couldnt tell, Mj's head spinning. The world for a few seconds was a whirl of green and brown trees and the lone wolf, rotating around them. They stopped with a jerk, Mj's heart jumped into her throat.

Stiles bent forward and rubbed the top of his dash, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for not killing us." he cooed to the machine. They were just feet away from a huge oak tree. It was Mj's turn now to roll her eyes at Stiles, and she looked back into the street where the wolf was-or had been. In its place, in the middle of the street there laid a man, bleeding from the shoulder badly. His face was scrunched up in pain and he was sucking in short quips of breath quickly.

"Oh my god we hit someone." Mj said, running for the man. When she got close, she saw that the wound wasnt leaking blood, but a thick black goo. It smelled like crap. Stiles got out of the car behind her muttering under his breath. The man held an arm out to her, as if to tell her to stay back. His legs were both bent in strange positions, like they were triple jointed. She could see the breaks in them, and then all at once she could see them healing, snapping back into place.

It was miraculous, it was magic. She wanted to cry just watching it happen.

He was still leaking from the shoulder "Dont move. Youre losing alot of-" _werewolf blood? _she examined the black stuff again as she bent down, it was a bit sticky. "...you're hurt, I think." she finished.

"Stay back," he grabbed the spot on his shoulder that was bleeding and sat up, still holding out an arm. Finally, he steadied himself and got onto his feet. He still looked pale, but not as bad as when she first walked up.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Stiles came up slowly behind her, running his hands through his dark hair. When he got a good look at the guy, his demeanor changed he smiled "Oh thank god, its just Derek."

"If you ever hit me again I swear-" he was shaking his head and squinting at Stiles.

Stiles made a motion with his hand like he was swatting something away and smiled nervously, "Yeah, Ive heard it all before."

Mj's eyes glittered in awe "Wow, you guys do heal fast …" she said, eyes on the man, mouth still slack jaw. "...well except that." she pointed to the gash. He had huge square features that looked familiar somehow, dark hair, a strong chin, light green eyes.

He looked at his hurt shoulder, "It doesn't feel right."

"It doesnt smell right either." Stiles frowned at the gash, "Does that black werewolf goop look like a bad sign to you?" he was looking at Mj.

"I think I saw that stuff before-" she was racking her brain. She felt like she was having deja vu. She looked back at the man's face, she had seen it before, she was sure of it.

"Derek…Derek Hale?" she took a step back carefully, towards the car, "You're the guy that burned his whole family in that house fire! And then you chopped your sister in half and dumped her legs in the woods. And then they found that one ladies body in your families abandoned house."

"None of that is true." then he thought for a second and added, "Maybe that last part, but God-" he looked at Stiles, "Where did you find this one?"

"Im Mj." was her retort, still feeling uncomfortable around the burly twenty-something year old.

"Werent you supposed to be being held hostage?" Derek asked furrowing his thick eyebrows.

"She was let go." Stiles was staring at the gash in Dereks shoulder still. He walked closer to it squinting his eyes and wrinkling his nose. He paused then said, "Mj, you said you saw that stuff before?"

She stepped closer too, so she was next to Stiles, "Barf?" she said questionably turning her head to the side. And then it clicked, "Wait, thats the same barf I saw at school…"

Derek was ignoring them, "Why would she just let her go after holding her hostage all night?"

"Mj wasn't the hostage," Stiles was piecing everything together all at once, his eyes flashed with the knowledge. "...she was the bait."

"I dont like the sound of that." Derek was straining his neck trying to look at his shoulder.

"Did this happen when we hit you just now?" Mj asked.

"No. We were looking for you in the mine when the Desert Wolf came out of nowhere, seemed like she was waiting for us. I chased after her and she led me away from Scott and Alicia." he told the story in a voice that sounded bland and uninterested, "We went through the mine like that for a while. I tried to catch her, but she was quick, nimble in a way that Im not. Then she slowed down I think, when we got deep enough. She slashed me once, then ran faster. I tried to catch her but-" He was sweating profusely.

"But she disappeared?" Mj guessed, and Derek nodded. "Well at least she didn't do anything worse." She wondered vaugly if wolves could die, and her question was almost immediately answered.

Stiles paled, "This is bad. She didnt just scratch you Derek. She _infected _you." he said the word infected like just saying it would mean he would catch it. "She's the one who infected Liam." he was talking faster, "She was asking Mj questions about Scott, She…" he trailed off, grabbing his keys and running towards the car.

"She what?" Derek limped after him. "Goddamn it Stiles! You always do this."

Mj shrugged and followed, remembering heavily that she was more tired than she had been in her entire life. She didnt care what the black stuff was, or what Stiles' miraculous revelation was she just wanted to sleep.

"If I'm right, we need to get you somewhere isolated- and fast. But first," he climbed in the Jeep and shut the door, "Get in. We're going to Deaton's."


	11. Chapter 10: Biological Warfare

**Chapter 10**

"You got home late." Alicia said while her and Mj climbed into the Jeep. Alicia herself had gotten home early, leaving Scott to try and figure out the Liam situation. She was tired, and she missed her cousin-fist fight or no.

Last night, Mj hadnt said a word before plopping onto her futon mattress in the bedroom they both shared. This morning, Mj was still ignoring her. She looked pissed, Alicia could read it all over her face. She could read it in the way she stomped around the house and kept knocking on the bathroom door while Alicia was in the shower. She could read it in her icy stares from across the room as they dressed in silence.

She had thought about apologising, but remembered she hadnt done anything wrong, and chose to just try and pretend they weren't fighting at all. So far, it wasn't working. At least now that they were in the car Mj couldn't walk away from her.

"Yeah." Mj said, after such a long pause, Alicia almost forgot what she asked in the first place.

"Well, do you want to talk about it?"

Mj was twirling her messy blonde hair between her fingers, and she plopped her feet onto the dash, "No."

"God, you're acting like such an angsty teenager." Alicia rolled her eyes, almost forgetting that she was the same age as Mj. "Are you at least curious as to what happened with Scott and Liam or…?"

"I could give two shits about all of them to be honest with you." she huffed in response, shooting Alicia daggers out of her peripheral vision and adding, "...and if you were smart you wouldn't either."

"Scott is a good guy." she knew the words sounded stupid coming out of her mouth, especially since they had just met. But there was something about Scott that she identified with, there was something about Scott that she couldnt put her finger on, and maybe he was the source of all this trouble, but that didnt mean he was a bad person. Just someone that was shoved into an impossible position. She felt like she could empathize with him on that front at least, and that Mj should be able to too.

"I swear to god Alicia, Put someone with a nice enough body in front of you, and you'll call them the Queen of England. Dont be mislead by-"

Alicia cut her off, "Im not being mislead Mj. Did you ever think maybe, just maybe, that going out into the middle of the woods at night is a great way to get yourself injured or kidnapped or-"

"..taken hostage by a fucking werewolf? Lemme think," Mj paused to pretend to scratch her head before going on, "No, nope. I didnt see that coming at all. God I must be fucking blind."

"And yet, you're the expert on Beacon Hills serial killers? Tell me Mj, how many bodies have they found in those woods you had us running around in- without weapons?" They drove into Beacon High parking lot, and Alicia pulled the keys out of the ignition with a jerk of her hand. "Youre being ridiculous and you know it. If what happened that night was anybodies fault, it was your own." Alicia ducked out of the car and slammed the door behind her before walking off without looking back at Mj. It was no use arguing with her. She was stubborn, and she knew she was placing an irrational blame on Scott's shoulders. The guy had risked his neck to save her after all, that had to be worth something.

She spent her whole first class staring at the empty seat Liam had occupied her first day here. It was hard not to worry about the kid, about Scott, about everything. Alicia had been thrust into a situation that shouldn't be her problem, but for some reason, she wanted it to be. She thought about the feeling of Scotts hand against her own. Of the short lived hug they shared. Of how scared she had been when she couldn't hear his heartbeat.

* * *

><p>Alicia's next two classes were uneventful, and she was too distracted to hear anything that was going on inside of them. It wasn't until the day was halfway over and she walked into her Chemistry class that she saw anyone she knew again. The classroom looked different from the other ones she had been in so far. It was bigger with huge black lab tables. The room was mostly full, and she saw Mj first, sitting in the back, scribbling into a notebook. Her eyes landed on Scott, who was towards the middle turned around in his chair, talking to Stiles, who sat behind him.<p>

Everything about Scott made Alicia's eyes linger and mind wander. Even the way he sat was cute, chair half on the ground, half up in the air. His head tilted back, one hand on Stiles' desk as his body faced forward. He looked like some sort of tanned Greek god.

And then all of a sudden he was looking at her with his big brown eyes, and she felt that she might melt right where she was standing. He motioned to the open seat next to him and she walked over and sat down.

"So what happened?" she said, blushing a bit at being caught staring. "Last night after I left?"

Now that she was closer, she could tell Scott was tired. He had deep bags under his eyes, and they had a glazed over look. He had an air of defeat about him, but still shot her a weak smile when she spoke

Scott shook his head, "Derek was infected. Lucky for us he had heard of the virus before."

"Well thats good news then right? You have the cure then?" she looked from Scott then back at Stiles and then Scott again. They both had the same look on thier face: disappointment? sadness?

"There was a cure, and we got it." Stiles said, his tone of voice low and unexcited.

"...and it slowed it down-or its slowing it down. But they didn't get better. Neither of them." Scott finished.

Alicia stayed quiet for a second, she glanced at Mj, alone in the back of the room, then back at Scott. "Deaton seemed to think that it was some sort of virus crafted in a lab. Maybe it is some sort of...I dont know...cross between something and something else. If that makes sense."

"Biological Warfare," Stiles said slamming a hand on the table with a smile creeping onto his face.

Scott and Alicia both jumped at the abruptness of the comment. "We arent at war Stiles-" Scott said and Alicia felt like she had to comment, "Thats a little dramatic-"

The three teens must have simultaneously forgotten they were in class because they all practically snapped their necks turning around when the beady eyed science teacher yelled.

"Stilinski!"

Stiles literally fell out of his chair. Arms swinging, chair toppling behind him, kids laughing around us, the whole embarrassing nine yards. She caught Scott giggling next to her and joined him. He scrambled back up, "Yes sir!"

The teacher pointed to the back of the classroom, "Get back there and stop slamming around!"

Stiles grabbed his backpack and stood up, rolling his eyes and bending down to tell Scott and Alicia, "...we'll talk more at lunch."

When he was gone, Scott and Alicia turned to face the front and pretended to listen to the teacher. _How did these kids ever pass any classes? _Alicia thought as she tried not to focus on the fact that Scotts arm was brushing against hers while he scribbled notes down next to her, Stiles' last comment swimming in her mind.

"Are you still not at war if someone else is warring with you?" Alicia mused more to herself than to Scott.

"I will be fine."

She wasn't expecting him to answer, but the sincerity of his voice caught her off guard. "If someones trying to kill you by killing your friends, isn't that war?"

"Nobodies killing anyone."

Alicia sighed and looked up at the teacher, who was explaining some sort of chemical formula in a toneless voice. "Tell that to Liam-" she mumbled under her breath.

"Liam cant die." Scott said, a little too quickly. He looked at Alicia, and she kept her head forward, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Liam _won't _die, I mean."

When, he finally looked back at his paper, she responded.

"Everyone can die, Scott."

He didnt even look up, but she could feel him shrink a bit next to her, so she said a little more lightheartedly, "if anyone could save him though, it would be you."

He smiled a bit, and she felt his eyes slide back onto her. "Thanks."

* * *

><p>Mj sat in the back of the class, watching Scott and Stiles and Alicia argue. She tried not to look like she wanted to know what they were talking about. She tried not to make eye contact with Alicia. She tried not to be jealous of her new friends. It wasnt working.<p>

She turned her attention to her notebook, which she had been using to sketch. Normally, she would just doodle, swirls and shapes and mazes and other mindless sketchings. Today, she sketched the big black wolf she had seen in the street. She left the eyes of the drawing white, and she imagined the glowing blue ones she had seen filling in those white spots.

"Derek."

Stiles took a seat next to her, looking over her shoulder as he did. She promptly covered the drawing and turned her head so it faced the window next to them.

"Youre really good." he cleared his throat, "...at drawing I mean."

"Look thanks for the ride home and stuff yesterday, but Im not really in the mood-"

"For compliments?" he waved a hand in front of his face and smiled, "You dont need to be in the mood for them, they just sort of come."

"Oh._ ha ha_." she replied sarcastically, trying not to smile back at him. She turned her head from the window, and inspected him in her peripheral vision. Mj thought of the way he had looked at her yesterday when she asked him why he wasnt a wolf. Like he had finally seen someone who was looking at him back instead of just through him. Right now, his hair stuck up in places it shouldn't, and his shirt was wrinkled and she was pretty sure he was wearing that same flannel yesterday, but he pulled off the look. Somehow it made him somewhat more appealing.

"Still pissed about the other night?" He asked once the tension eased off of Mj.

She lowered her eyes and scrunched up her face,"Duh. Dont you think you would be too?"

To her surprise, he shrugged. "Probably not."

"Because it was my fault I got captured or whatever? Ive heard it already." She nodded at the back of Alicia's head, "God forbid someone try and understand where _Im_ coming from-"

"I get it. I understand completely."

She glanced over at him and their eyes met for a moment. He seemed to always have a cute cheeky smile on his face. She didn't know whether it made her want to kiss it or punch it.

"What is it you understand _exactly_?"

"Youre scared."

She waited, and he went on talking. "You went out in the woods looking for adventure and you found it. But you didnt realize that adventure and danger go hand in hand. You cant get one without the other. It shook you. It shook you the wrong way."

"Im not scared." she said, but her tone was shaky and uneven.

He rolled his eyes and lowered his voice, "The first time I saw someone turn into a wolf, I almost peed myself. And that was _Scott_." he was leaning into talk to her, and thier knees touched beneath the table. "Then he tried to _kill _me."

She didn't say anything. Instead, she tried to opt out of the conversation, staring at Alicia and Scott, who were smiling at eachother stupidly. Stiles watched her, watch them for a moment.

"Mj, are you listening?" he said finally, as the bell rang signaling for them to leave class. Mj picked up her purse and notebook as Stiles sat there slack jaw.

"Yeah, yeah youre scared of your best friend." she was backing away from him as he stood up to walk next to her.

"Thats not what I said at all-" he trailed after her, letting out a frustrated growl as he did.

She turned around and picked up her pace, heading into the hallway, where Scott and Alicia were walking four paces ahead of her. Stiles put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around before she could escape his grip.

"We are going to Scott's house later. Alicia will probably be there, and maybe you could get to know Scott, see that he's not a monster. Just give him a chance, for her" They glanced at Scott and Alicia's back again. Stiles thrust a crumpled piece of paper into her hand. "If you need a ride, call me."

"Dont you have a girlfriend?"

Stiles winced, "Just call me." he turned away just as she did, then paused to shout at her back, "Dont be scared!"


	12. Ch 11: Flirting

**light smut because what else is fan fiction**** for?!**

**(i don't own teen wolf )  
><strong>

**Chapter 11**

Alicia took three deep breaths outside of the large brown door that lead into Scotts house before knocking. She was nervous, and she wasnt normally nervous when it came to boys. She was used to boys, she played sports growing up, she scraped her knees with them, and she spat with them and she always made sure to keep up with them. But Scott was different, there was something she saw in him that she had never seen or felt in anyone else.

He was a bright light in a dull life. He was a leader, someone who genuinely cared for the innocent and cared about his friends. It was refreshing, and exciting. The more she thought about all the things that made Scott such a good person, the more nervous she got.

She decided, fanning herself lightly, that she would play it cool. She wouldnt mindlessly stare at him. She would act _completely normal._

The front door swung open, and Scott McCall smiled crookedly at Alicia. His hair was wet, and sat sideways against his head, in fact, now that she let her eyes wander downwards, she noticed his whole body was wet. He had just a towel on, tied around his hips. She realized this was the first time she had seen him with his shirt off, because _god_, _she wouldnt have ever let herself crush on him so hard_.

He had a broad chest that complimented his sculpted arms, and a six pack that looked chiseled out of stone. There were three droplets of water rolling down his stomach, following the v shaped cut that framed his hips, she watched them as they disappeared into the towel, and almost forgot that Scott was a person, _a real person that had been talking to her while she stood standing outside like an idiot._

"Huh?" Alicia said, finally snapping out of her funk for long enough to notice his mouth moving.

"Are you okay? You look a little faint…"

"Should I come back later?" she said a little too fast. She was tensing up, she needed to stay focused.

Scott look confused, then looked down at himself, and back to Alicia. His cheeks got red, and she could swear he blushed before saying, "No!" he stammered, "I j-just got out of the shower, I lost track of time, is it 6 already?" his voice cracked and he pulled the towel closer, "Come in while I get dressed." and she followed him into his house, closing the door behind her as he ran upstairs shouting, "Just a second!"

Scott's house was pretty big for just housing him and his mom, who Alicia knew was a nurse. She walked through the hallway that lead to the living room slowly, stopping to glance at the pictures of little Scott. They lined the walls, and when she got into the living room there were a large collection of them on the mantlepiece. It was an altar to Scott McCall's life, and she felt that she might die from the sheer cuteness of all of them. A five year old Scott smiled up at her from a large picture in a blue frame, one tooth missing in the front, knees in the dirt, eyes sparkling from the flash, he had an arm swung over a smaller kid- who Alicia instantly recognized as Stiles by his familiar shit eating grin.

She heard Scott's footsteps on the hardwood floors as he came in-fully dressed this time. He had combed his hair to the side, and threw on a t-shirt and dark jeans. He looked so much younger with clothes on, but he still looked unimaginably perfect as he stood next to her to examine the shot of himself as a kid.

"Look how cute we were," he said, and Alicia giggled. "What? Its true look at me," he pointed to himself in the picture, "with my front tooth missing and standing next to Stiles."

"Hey! Stiles isnt that weird looking!"

Scott laughed now, "Look at his smile, he looks like a doofas all the time. He makes me happy I was born with this face." It felt good to talk to Scott like this, about light and normal things, and it felt even better when she noticed he was flirting with her. He was doing it in the cheesiest way possible, but it was still flirting, which was more than enough for Alicia.

"You're chin is crooked though," she pointed out, as Scott set the picture back on the mantel with the others. Scott spun around, to look at her, tensing up a bit.

"Is it that bad? I didnt think anyone-"

"Its not bad…" she said in a voice that meant it was definitely bad.

"Stiles told me nobody could notice." he sounded genuinely worried.

"Thats what best friends are for I guess." and she laughed again at his increasingly disturbed face. "Im kidding, its cute I swear."

Scott smiled now, and walked over to the couch and sat down, motioning for her to sit next to him. "So Im cute now?"

She did, it was nice, sitting with Scott alone, looking at the Scott shrine in front of them. "You're okay I guess."

She was vaguely aware of the fact that he had sat himself down towards the middle of the couch, and now she was sitting almost too close to him. Thier elbows touched.

"You know," his tone was more serious now and he turned to face her. She had to sit awkwardly to face him, and she couldnt help wondering if she looked stupid right now. She had just decided to wear jeans and a t shirt, but thats all she ever wore. Now that he was looking at her in the way he was, she wished she had worn something more...girly.

"You're the first person I've told about being a werewolf that hasnt treated me differently because of it. I mean, when I told my mom, she didnt talk to me for a week. When I told Stiles, he was of all things excited, You-" he looked like he was struggling for the words, and he was looking everywhere but at Alicia, "You found out I was a wolf and you didnt look at me differently. You werent scared of me, you took my word over what your instincts told you and I have never met anyone like that. I just wanted to say, thanks, I guess."

"You saved my life. I should be thanking you. If you werent in the hall when Liam turned on me, or there when the Desert Wolf chased Mj, I could have died."

This time when he spoke, he didnt sound nervous at all, "It was the right thing to do."

"Thats why I like you." she had said the thought out loud, and instantly regretted it.

The words hung in the air for a few seconds, and she thought maybe he looked like he was going to run from the room without another word. He had thanked her for not judging him too quick, and she had repaid him with an awkward, out of place, blurted out comment. She opened her mouth to say something like, 'as a friend I mean' but didnt even get the first word out before Scott's lips were on her own. Just for a second, barely brushing his against hers, before Alicia pulled away. The kiss was-for lack of a better word, _chaste._

"Im sorry, I didnt mean to cut you off, you said something serious and I-"

"Shhh, I like you too," he said smiling, still just centimeters from her face, he pulled one of her legs up over his, and moved her body closer to his in one swoop, instantly eliminating the awkward position they were just in, and creating a far more intimate one. Her heart was beating fast in her chest, and the sound of it was drowning out almost every other sound. He kissed her again, harder this time, forcing her to recline a bit with her back against the arm of the couch.

She pulled away, "Is your mom here?" she asked, breathily.

"She's working all night," he said, and this time when he kissed her, she parted her lips, and he pushed his tongue in her mouth, it was warm and sweet and beautiful. One of his hands found her own, and he laced his fingers into hers. He was all the way on top of her now, and he stopped kissing her mouth to kiss her cheek, and then the nape of her neck. They were both breathing hard.

"Arent Mj and Stiles coming over?" she remembered anxiously.

"Not here yet."

"What about-"

Scott stopped kissing her throat for a second to look at her eyes, "Dont worry about anything. Just shut up, and let me kiss you for a second." His lips crashed into hers again, and she couldnt tell if she was kissing him or if he was kissing her, just that she was breathing him in and that she never wanted this moment to end. He was gentle and rough at the same time, touching her stomach with one coarse hand, lightly moving it upwards on the soft skin that stretched over her stomach. Their legs tangled together on the couch, she could feel the bulge of his pants against her thigh, and they broke apart for a breath in between kisses.

He pressed his forehead against her own, and looked into her light brown eyes with his dark ones, "Your heart is beating fast."

"You should take off your shirt again." she said, giggling like a fool.

He smiled back and wriggled his eyebrows, whipping his shirt off all the while. She laughed even harder and he started kissing her again, as she let her hands snake across his abdomen. She was happy, truly unbelievably happy for the first time since coming to Beacon Hills.

They stayed like that for at least another minute, before hearing the front door close. Alicia pushed Scott off of her and he toppled onto the hardwood floor below the couch, just as Stiles and Mj walked into the room.

Alicia wasnt quite sure what to do, so she stood up and tried to wipe the grin off of her face as Scott scrambled to his feet next to her. He looked just as dishevled as she felt. His face was bright red, especially around his mouth and nose, and his hair in the front was pushed straight up from where she had nestled her fingers into it. He was shirtless and beaming, a bright white smile from ear to ear. Alicia couldnt help but thinking that in this moment he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and that _she had made him look like that. _

"You guys were just kissing weren't you?" Stiles asked, tilting his head and grinning a bit himself.

"They _totally _were." Mj added putting a hand on her hip and looking at them through slanted eyes.


	13. Ch 12: Storytelling

**Chapter 12 **

"Its only a little bit weird that Stiles has a key to your house, but from what I understand, you guys are basically a married couple, so I wont say anything more about it." Mj said once Scott had pulled his shirt back on and found a seat in the living room. Mj wasnt sure what to expect when going to Scott's house, but it was so much more normal than she had imagined. There werent any witches or werewolves or even a regular dog. Just a normal place you would expect a single mom to live in with her kid. She felt a twinge of guilt for judging Scott so quickly, but she was still a bit weary of his presence. She kept thinking he would wolf out or something out of nowhere. It made her nervous.

"If I didnt, he would just climb in through the windows."

Stiles interjected, "If you didnt keep the door locked I wouldnt have to come in through the window. Hence, the house key. Anyways, didnt we come here to talk about something serious?"

"The cure." Alicia said, watching Mj carefully. They still hadnt made up, she was probably surprised Mj had even shown up. But Stiles' words had been soaking in Mj's head all day. _Was she angry? Or was she just scared?_ It was hard to differentiate the two feelings, but she knew that she was tired of feeling resentment towards Alicia. She had decided, to just try and let everything blow over. If Alicia wanted to dance with wolves, than she wasn't going to let her do it alone. They were family, after all. And Mj didnt exactly have an extensive list of friends.

"Look, I know I have been acting like an asshole," Mj started, feeling like maybe it was time, but still avoiding Alicia's gaze, she instead looked at Scott, " and I mean, I should have given you the benefit of the doubt." Now she looked at Alicia, "and I probably shouldnt have hit you."

"This is _the most_ heartfelt apology Ive ever heard." Stiles said sarcastically.

"This is about as good as it gets." Mj was flushed. She shot Stiles daggers from across the room, and he winked. She wanted to rip his eye out of the socket.

"Dont worry about it, and I might have deserved the punch-a little bit. But next time, Im socking you back." Mj and Alicia hugged, and Mj sat down on an armchair, feeling 100 lbs lighter. She could feel Stiles looking at her but refused to meet his gaze.

"We were talking in the car," Stiles began, and everyone watched him as he was the only person in the room still standing. "And I think maybe Mj was on to something. I told her to go over everything the Desert Wolf said, word for word." He thought, spoke, felt - everything was expressed in motion. He was fidgity as hell now, pacing the length of the mantle, putting his hand through his hair while talking, looking at all of them in turn. He was dramatic already, but even more so when excited, "I think, I dont know, maybe Im just grasping at straws here- but I think maybe if we can find her-catch her somehow- we could find a way to cure Derek and Liam." he paused again, "and find Malia."

"We dont know anything about her. Braeden looked for her for years without any luck, and she was a professional tracker. We arent in a position to go looking for trouble." Scott was quick to shoot Stiles down, but Stiles was adamant and stubborn, he wouldnt be written off so easily.

"We arent in a position to lie on our back either. Youre an alpha, but with half your pack gone, youre vulnerable. As far as we know, she's trying _to kill you_. And shes doing it in such a way that sheer force isnt going to do anything. You cant claw the eyes out of a virus, Scott." Scott considered this for a moment, but didnt say anything. "Mj, tell them what you told me about the wolf story or whatever-"

Everyone turned to Mj, and she leaned back to revel in the attention, twirling her hair around her finger. "Well," it felt good to have people pay attention to her for once, the only person who seemed to listen to her lately was Stiles, and she only listened to _him_ half the time. "I was tied up in the chair, while this crazy coyote person is drilling me about Scott. I mean, I was dumbstruck at first, because its sort of unnerving having someone transform from coyote to person in front of your eyes. Its also a gross, like where do you think all that hair goes when they're human? Inside their body?"

"It grows when they shift." Stiles replied while Alicia laughed at the comment

"Theres no way you can know that for sure, but whatever." Mj continued, "I said as much to the Desert Wolf- who by the way has a name, I cant remember Anya or Ana or something- and then she realized I wasnt Malia, thank god because she totally acted way cooler once she knew we werent related, I mean, you can tell this lady doesnt talk to too many people. She's probably been living alone forever. How long do werewolves live anyways?" Stiles was rubbing his temples, and he had walked over to plop himself onto the arm of the sofa next to Scott, who was smirking a bit at the annoyed look on Stiles' face.

"You're literally the worst storyteller ever."

Alicia looked like she was enjoying it, and she chimed in to her cousins question. "Well I mean, hypothetically they could live forever. Assuming they heal constantly, and if you were an Alpha with a huge pack of lackeys you would be even stronger and-"

"No, we can still age. Look at Derek, he's like 25? 24?" Scott replied then thought for a second before coming to the realization, "I dont even know how old Derek is."

"Can we just get back to the fucking story already?" Stiles looked like he was about to burst.

"Okay, Okay," Mj laughed then, for the first time got a bit more serious. She re positioned herself in the chair so she was leaning forwards, and could better see the three of them. "Like I was saying, once she realized she had snatched the wrong person, she relaxed. I asked her some stuff, about what she was doing in Beacon Hills, why she was looking for him" she nodded towards Scott, "But she was vague about all that. So I asked her about werewolves, which she insisted were a different breed from what she was." Mj was trying to juice up the crowd, but the only person who seemed halfway interested was Stiles. She kept catching Alicia and Scott make sideways glances at each other. They were sitting close together, and their legs touched on the couch, Mj was almost jealous of their obvious budding affection, of their cuteness.

"She said that the coyote goes back way farther than the wolf, that the Coyote was one of the very first beings on earth. But back then, Coyote was just a coyote, it wasn't until he had done a very bad thing that he also became a man. Along time ago, the world was different. It was dark always, and there was no ocean, no beginning or end to the land. Everything was one huge, empty, dark, vast _desert_." Stiles was leaning in from across the room, his eyes watching her every move. Scott looked like he was more interested now, and sat with his arms on his knees. The house was silent but for the sound of Mj's voice, it was darkening outside, and Stiles flipped the light switch across the room to the on position.

"Coyote had one friend, Eagle, and they always hunted together. Eagle would search overhead, while Coyote would prowl on the ground. But Eagle always came back with more bounty than Coyote."

"Is this relevant at all? or is it just going over my head?" Alicia was confused.

"I have no idea, he just freaked out when I was done telling it-" Mj laughed a bit as Stiles interrupted.

"Its relevant! shhhhh.."

"Okay so one day, Coyote was like, 'I never get as much food as you, its too damn dark.' And Eagle said,

'You're totally right. Lets go look for some light so we can be on top of our game' So they went to look for some light, through the whole desert. Finally they got so far in that they found a group of Mojave men. These men lived in the dark, but grew crops and danced and sang and thrived somehow. Eagle and Coyote found out that they had been given light, and they kept them in these two twin boxes. Well, they wanted to have some light for themselves, so Coyote stole the boxes. Inside them, there was the sun and the moon."

"There, there it is!" Stiles had a huge smile on his face and stared at all three of them with wide light brown eyes.

"...She stole the sun and the moon?" Scott had his head tilted to the side.

"The desert. The Mojave Men. The moon. It goes on, but this is the part I was waiting for."

"The mojave desert is huge, it goes across three states, if you mean to tell me youre going to look for her in that, than I mean to tell you that I dont care how great your sense of smell is, youre not going to find shit." Alicia rolled her eyes.

"Well thats not necessarily true," Mj said, pulling out her phone, "I mean, Ive been to Joshua Tree like a hundred times. I can tell you one thing, there arent any 'Mojave Men' out there…"

"Exactly. I mean this may sound crazy, but, there can't be more than a couple reservations with Mojave Indians living on them." Stiles stood up now, like they would leave right that second.

"Actually theres just one," Mj said from behind the iphone screen, and Stiles walked over to look at it from over her shoulder.

"Thats like maybe a three hour drive?"

"Four at most." Mj looked up at Stiles from her seat on the armchair, as he leaned in a bit farther to view the screen, "But why would she tell me a story that would lead us right to her? That seems counter productive, but at the same time, she told that story slow, like it meant something or something. I dont know, but it didnt so much explain the werewolf thing like I thought it would."

"Maybe she just trying to capture Malia. Maybe thats where Malia is now, on the rez."

"But why go through the lengths of killing Derek?" Scott asked.

"I dont know." Stiles looked like he didnt believe his own suggestion.

"What happened in the end of the story?" Alicia chimed in, out of nowhere.

"Coyote accidentally releases the moon, when it goes up into the sky, everything gets cold and snowy, and Eagle gets mad, because he had warned Coyote against his recklessness. He banished Coyote from the animal kingdom, saying that 'if you are foolish enough to steal from man, you are foolish enough to live with him'. So Coyote went back to the Mojave Men, who were now much smaller than they were when he had been there with Eagle.

He said, 'I have been banished from my home, I wish to be a Man now' The Mojave men had suffered greatly when the moon was released, but they were a kind people, and so they told Coyote this: ''You have sinned against us, you have tricked us, and stolen from us. But we know the way of the Coyote so,we will let you be Man, but not all the time. Once a month, when the moon is full, and you are reminded of your mistake, you will carry the burden of being Coyote once more."

"What exactly is the moral of this?" Alicia asked

"I dont know, dont steal? I guess." Scott replied.

"It doesnt matter," Stiles said, "We have an idea of where she is and we should go for it. What do you think?"

He was looking at Mj, who shrugged, "Why not right? Best plan anyone's had yet."

"What if we get there and she has a pack of her own?" Scott sounded worried, "I cant take Mj and Alicia into somehwhere we arent familiar with, to chase someone who may or may not be there. Sounds like-"

"Sounds like you want _our _people to die." Stiles looked like he wanted to take the statement back as soon as it came out of his mouth.

Scott sighed. "You're right." and everyone in the room was surpised, "we're wasting time sitting around. We need to be out there, looking for the cure, for Malia. And we're all going to do it together."

"Sweet, now all we have to do is come up with a plan." Mj said looking up at Stiles than back at Scott, who gave her a sheepish smile, "What?" she asked suddenly.

"That is the plan." Stiles said, "Drive to the reservation. Hope for the best. We'll leave in the morning."


	14. Ch 13: Into the Desert Part 1

**Chapter 13 Part 1**

Alicia and Mj sat across from eachother in the bedroom they shared. It was dark outside, and the window was open to let in the breeze. It was still warm, and Alicia laid on her bed with her legs and arms stretched all the way out.

"How is it 10 o'clock at night and still extremely hot. I feel like Ive been hot ever since I came to California."

Mj was sitting on the floor below the window sill, and Alicia rolled onto her stomach to look at her. She was drawing something in a notebook, "It feels good," she responded without looking up, "the sun is the worst part of the hot weather. Im just glad its not out."

"At least its not humid."

Mj seemed adamant with whatever it was she was working on, because the sound of her charcoal pencil scratching the paper filled the room. "So, whats up with you and Scott?" she used a singsong voice when she said his name, and Alicia couldnt help but smirk.

"Im not sure. I mean, I barely know him..."

"But…?"

"But I dont know. I like him." the words felt more real now that she had shared them with Scott, like she could have taken them back before, but tonight made them solid. "Ive never known anyone like him. And I mean, its more than the werewolf thing," she sat up on her elbows and looked out the window into the sky. "He thinks of others first, and not just the way everyone says they do, he's genuine in a way other people arent," the moon was visible just above the tree line outside of the window, a crescent bathed in white light.

"He's definitely different," Mj said raising an eyebrow.

"Do you like him?" Alicia asked

"I dont know him very much. I mean, Ive had classes with him I think…" she dropped her pencil and looked up finally.

"Vague much?"

Mj huffed and plopped the sketch book onto the ground next to her, Alicia couldnt make out what was on it from here, but she could see Mj's familiar smooth line work and shoddy shading. "Last year his girlfriend died. There was a huge memorial service for her at school, people were crying and stuff, I didnt go, I cant stand funerals."

"Wait, why have I never heard about this? " Alicia felt a sinking feeling. She didnt want to be a rebound, she actually liked Scott, and now that she reflected on all the time she had spent with him, she couldnt tell how much was her brain over romanticizing moments, and how much was actually Scott showing interest in her. She felt like a deflated balloon.

Mj was still thinking out loud, "I think she was stabbed by a mugger. Weirdly, her mom worked at our school before that, and she stabbed herself the like six months to a year before that." she sounded almost excited as she peiced together the last bit of the girls' family history, "And before that, her Aunt was dead with a slashed throat in the Hale house."

"That is...really disturbing. How do you know all this horrible stuff but you dont even know if you ever had a class with Scott McCall?" Alicia's mind was racing, she wanted to ask Scott a thousand questions, but she knew she never could without over stepping some boundaries.

Mj seemed to read her mind, "Im sure he will mention it eventually. But why kill the mood with you by talking about a dead girlfriend."

"I dont know, I just feel like maybe it would have been mentioned by now, I mean, we've had plenty of conversations about serious stuff."

"Because it's happening right now. Because its something we got involved in, somehow. But you have to let that kind of talk come naturally. I mean, like you said, you barely know him."

Alicia couldn't help but think of Sisyphus, the greek Scott and her had discussed in the car. Now, the metaphor felt different. She kept wondering if she was the rock, the replacement rock for the one he had let roll down the hill.

She got up and walked over to where her cousin was sitting. Picking up the sketchbook next to her, she examined the drawing. It was a profile line drawing of a faceless person, the only recognizable feature was the hair, which she had put a remarkable amount of detail into.

"Is this Stiles?" Alicia asked, suddenly recognizing the head.

"No." Mj yanked the book from her hands and slammed it shut, then took one look at the expression on Alicia's face and sighed, "Maybe. Well, its his hair at least…"

Alicia wriggled her eyebrows and Mj rolled her eyes, walking over to the lamp across the room and shutting it off, "Go to bed! We have a long day ahead of us."

* * *

><p>Mj slept soundly, throughout the whole night, before she got a series of calls back to back at 5 am. It sat on the dresser next to her buzzing indignantly, and she ignored it, shutting her eyes tighter and pretending she was deaf. Finally, it was Alicia who said, "Just answer it," from her bed.<p>

"Hello?' Mj asked the receiver, not even opening her eyes. She knew it was still dark outside.

"Hey, its me." a male voice said.

…

"Who is me?" she asked groggily. It was too early for this.

"Stiles!"

"Right. Hey. Its 5 am." Mj said in the most unamused tones she could muster.

"Yeah, and we're leaving. Some stuffs going on, We might need to take two cars."

"Its too early." Mj said, hanging up instantly, and turning her pillow over to the cold side. It was 5am, she was going to sleep. She heard Alicia get up from her bed and walked over to the window.

"He just pulled up. Looks like just Stiles, oh wait no-theres someone in the back"

"Dont care." Mj growled into the pillow. Her phone buzzed again next to her and this time she answered on the first ring. "Do you speak English Stilinski?"

"Im outside, hurry up and get down here."

"Fine." Mj started getting out of bed, throwing the sheets off as Alicia started to change on the otherside of the room.

He sighed heavily into the phone, "Do you want to go or not?"

"I said Fine! Jesus. Give us like ten minutes." She hung up on him again. How does he have so much energy all the time?

"I think he wants you to drive too for some reason." she said to Alicia as she pulled her pants on.

"Oh great. Dont you think your mom is going to notice we are missing school and stuff?" Alicia was pulling her hair back into a bun, they both walked into the bathroom.

Mj yawned and shook her head, "She barely even notices Im alive half the time. No big deal." After brushing teeth and sort of washing faces and all the other stuff you do when you have under five minutes to get ready, they walked downstairs to meet Stiles in the front of the house.

He looked like he had barely slept. But he looked like that most days Mj had noticed. Stiles was practically jumping up and down trying to get them to hurry up so they could leave. Mj noticed immediately the figure draped over the backseat, Derek, who was curled so his body faced away from them. "Oh right, he's coming" he jerked a thumb back, "Thats why we need to take separate cars. Scott cant be in the same room as him I guess." Then he said almost as an afterthought, "Liam is circling the drain, Deaton gave him ten hours."

"Its a three hour drive just to get there-"

"That leaves us four hours once we do get there to capture the desert wolf, find the cure, and haul ass back to Beacon Hills." he had a determined look on his face.

"Thats a stretch, he might just..." Mj started to say and Stiles inturrupted.

"He's not going to die if we leave _now." _then he leaned forward to look passed Mj and at Alicia, "You need to pick up Scott at his house, we are all going to meet there, heres this. " he bent down to grab something off the front seat. It was a mapquest of the rez, he handed it to Alicia through the window of the front seat.

"We will see you there then" Mj said, and Stiles gave her a look that was mirrored on Alicia's face.

"Scott and I will be fine alone. You can go with Stiles-" she was smiling, and Mj was rolling her eyes.

"I need you," Stiles started, forcing Mj and Alicia to stare at him incredulously, "I need you in case Derek wakes up. He might get violent, and I need all the help I can get."

"Okay whatever. Lets just get out of here." She climbed into the front seat of the Jeep and gave Alicia a look that read 'I hate you' before they sped off. She waved at her cattily in the mirror.

They drove in silence for about an hour, Stiles turned some music on to drown out the sound of Derek snoring in the backseat. He didnt look good, not like he had when she first met him. He seemed smaller in the position he was in, cradling the spot that she knew was where the pain emanated from. She watched him for a while, wondering how long before the ragged breathing would stop altogether. Wondering how Liam looked, being ten years younger than this man.

"Deaton gave him something to make him sleep."

"He looks so different. His skin is almost a completely different color. He looks grayish." She watched Stiles flick his eyes upwards to glance at the mirror that would show him Dereks sleeping form. He looked worried.

"When was the last time you slept?" Mj asked, watching him closely. His eyes were droopy and low, the bags that were under his eyes looked even deeper now.

"Thirty minutes here and there." He yawned as he said it, and she could see that his eyes were glassy and glazed over, "Someone had to figure everything out right?" he smiled from the corner of his mouth, and glanced over as he did.

"I guess." she was tired too, and it was already getting warm outside. She watched the lines on the freeway disappear under the front of the car as they zoomed past. "Do you think anyone could have figured all this stuff out if you werent around?"

"Someone would have to. Scott would, maybe." he shrugged.

"Doubt it. Scott would just chase his own tail all day if it wasnt for you."

"Dog jokes? Cute. Cute and clever." They were finally out of the wooded area that surrounded Beacon Hills and entering the vast empty expanse of desert. It seemed to swallow them whole. Mj suddenly felt that her problems were nothing compared to the expansive dead land of the desert.

"Its sort of hard not to make them. He might as well be a goddamn puppy. Have you ever looked into that guys eyes?"

"I melt a little bit on the inside everytime." He was laughing at her and enjoying it, only half paying attention to the road.

"I'm serious! Scott is too naive. He would be totally lost without you."

"I'd like to think so." He sounded doubtful, "I mean, he's changed alot since we were kids. I used to think the same thing about him, that he would forever be...a puppy I guess-" he chuckled a bit, "but now, I think he's grown up alot in the past year. I mean, after Allison died, and he turned Liam. Its like he's almost a different person, but then other times I remember he's the same kid I grew up with, and it shows."

"Allison. That was her name. I couldnt remember it last night."

"Yeah, that sucked." he sounded far away when he said that. Derek was stirring behind them.

"Why didnt Deaton tell us to bring Liam if he's worse off?"

"He didnt think he would make the trip."

"Right."

Derek was still moving, scratching his shoulder violently. He moaned loudly. Mj kept looking back at him and seeing him scratch and toss and turn. He was drenched in sweat, shirtless. She kept studying the lines of muscle on his back, wondering if she had ever seen anything so sexy or terrifying. Were there even that many muscles in normal backs? There was black fluid leaking into the bandage over his shoulder. It looked like it would slide off at any moment.

"He doesnt look so good."

He kept scratching the spot as she spoke, and the bandage fell onto the floor of the backseat, revealing a huge scrape. It had obviously gotten bigger since she last saw it, and it stank worse too. It looked unbelieveably deep and stretched from the base of his neck to halfway down his bicep. The car filled instantly with the smell of rotting flesh. Derek groaned again, a deep rough sound. There were black viens and dried blood around the wound.

They rolled down the windows through tear filled eyes. "I might throw up." Stiles confessed, looking blueish in the face and swerving slightly on the road.

"No no No No No No No No." Mj said, unbuckling her seatbelt and turning all the way around in her seat. "I will try and put the bandage back-" she bent down, trying to keep her balance in the moving car and leaning over the center console as she reached down to grab the soppy bandage. Her hand was inches away, when she saw Derek start to twitch violently. Black goop pumped from the wound, all over the backseat, sending another putrid dose of smell thier way. "This is so fucking gross!" She half yelled, half sobbed, putting a hand under her nose.

And then he stopped moving abruptly, and she saw for the second time in her life, something completely impossible happen. He was changing, right there in the back seat, hair began sprouting up on various parts of his body, and his face began changing shape. He plopped onto his back as he did, and she saw his nails grow long, and his eyes glow blue.

"Stiles! Something is- I dont know- He's changing."

"Shit." Stiles mumbled under his breath, suddenly turning into the next lane over on the freeway, trying to make it over to the otherside. Somehow, avoiding one other car barreling his way, he pulled over to the edge of the freeway, where the sand and dirt of the desert ruled. Derek was sitting up when they stopped, and they both spun around in thier seats to see him. He was breathing quick, and his teeth were bared in an angry scowl. He looked from Stiles to Mj and then he _growled._

Mj and Stiles exchanged worried glances, she felt the same way she did when she saw the coyote in the forest. But now, she second guessed herself, fleeing obviously was her first thought, but it hadnt done her any good beforehand. Stiles reached below the front seat and pulled out a wooden baseball bat. "We need to stick together. Im going to try and slow him down." he was thinking the same thing Mj was.

"Okay… How the hell are you going to slow down a fucking wolf?" She barely got the words out when he swung the bat around in one swift motion, hitting Derek in the face. It made a crack against the side of Derek's head, and Stiles and Mj ran from the car. She felt him grab her hand and tug, and they ran. They were on a steep incline off the edge of the road, and they half slid half ran down it, trailing a cloud of dust behind them. They were running fast, and Mj could barely focus on what was going on through the commotion. She tried to focus on the bottom of Stiles' shoes as he ran, avoiding rocks and sidestepping prickly looking cacti. The incline got steeper half way down, and suddenly they werent running at all, they were sliding, quickly down the side of the hill or mountain or whatever it was. Stiles' hand still clutched her own, so hard she thought maybe he would cut off the circulation. He was sliding faster, and finally after what felt like a year they reached the bottom, and she crumpled into him.

They both were weezing heavily, and she could feel sand and dirt inside her mouth and around her eyes. Stiles still clasped the bat in his hand, and he let Mj go and got onto his feet as she tried to focus on her surroundings. Dust was still falling down from above. A howl was heard from somewhere around them, Stiles was spinning around trying to place where Derek was.

And then he was there, no longer the humanoid wolf he was before, but back to his full wolf form. Covered in black hair and huge, it foamed at the mouth violently, its bloodshot blue eyes focused intently onto them.

Stiles stopped moving and stared at the beast. It growled again. He stood between it and Mj, shakily holding out an arm in front of him, "Derek. Its me, Stiles. Your friend-sort of." Mj was still sitting on the floor. She could feel scrapes and bruises all over her body, and he saw Stiles' arms looked much the same. He had a tear in the bottom of his shirt, there was blood around it. She could practically hear the wolf in front of them getting ready to attack. This wasnt the same wolf she had met in the woods. The bite was doing something to him. They had to act quickly.

Mj stood up, and grabbed the bat from Stiles' hand as the great black wolf jumped, claws bared and jaws open and foaming. She smacked it in the side of the head with a hard THWACK.

The bat broke in half, and the wolf crumpled to the floor.

"Is he dead?" She asked after a second, heart beating faster than ever. As if on queue one of the wolfs paws moved forward.

"Doest look like it" Stiles turned back to the incline they had slid from, and immediately assessed that it was too long and steep to climb up in a quick manner.

"We are fucked." Mj said grabbing a tuft of hair and scrunching her face up. She could feel her vision blur with tears, "We are going to die in the fucking desert."

Stiles put his hands on her shoulders, "Dont. Stop. You cant break down. We've got to keep moving before he wakes back up." He was pushing her forwards, towards the middle of the desert, away from the road above. The sun beat hot overhead, and she could feel the scrapes on her hands and arms start to sting. Mj swallowed back her tears and took a deep shaky breath in as they walked forwards, back to the only road for miles.


	15. Ch 13: Part 2: Into the Desert

**PART 2**

Alicia and Scott lost view of Stiles' jeep in the traffic getting out of Beacon Hills, then caught up to them again, then lost them again somewhere around when the trees began to thin and the desert was visible. Scott made small talk in the front seat, and she was thankful he didnt say anything about the night before. Her thoughts were almost completely occupied by what Mj had said last night. Scott had a serious relationship that ended in tradgedy, that wasnt something that you just got over. Year or no, he hadnt so much as mentioned the girl in the past few days. She felt torn, and kept wanting to bring somethng up, but the topic seemed close to inapproachable in their current situation. Everyone was nervous. Scott was even nervous, he kept laughing about silly things on the road, asking futile questons and commenting on the weather. It was all too light for the current situation.

It didnt take long for the question to finally come out, and when it did she flinched at the sound of it coming from her own mouth. She sounded cold and almost insensitive as she said, "Mj said something last night that I couldnt stop thinking about, but I mean, I dont want to pry."

He seemed relieved that she had finally spoke, and she realized all at once that she had been giving him a bit of the cold shoulder, "If you want to ask something, shoot. You arent prying."

"Well, I heard about your last girlfriend. What happened there?" the words flew out of her mouth faster than she had inteded. She clenched her hands against the wheel and didnt look at Scott fidget in his seat. Instead, she watched the grassy hills fade into dirt and rock. The sun beat high over head, and she had to squint against it to see the road properly.

"Thats what this is about," he looked out of the passenger window with a blank expression. When he spoke again, his voice cracked, "She died. Almost a year ago."

"Thats what Mj said." she gripped the wheel tighter, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I mean," he sighed heavily, "it was abrupt. It was complicated. None of us really knew what we were doing then."

"I understand and Im sorry. I was only asking because of what happened between us last night. I mean, I dont know," she cleared her throat, and could feel Scott's eyes on her, "I'm not trying to be a rebound. As horribly insensitive as that sounds,"

Scott inturrupted, "I sort of jumped on you then, and Im sorry. It was a mistake- well I would do it again, it wasnt a mistake, it was just- Im not that kind of-"

"We just kissed, its no big deal. I liked it" she could hear her inner voice screaming that this was a big deal. This was Scott McCall. She wanted him, and she wanted him a thousand times more after last night.

"I liked it too. I like you, and I like the way you make me feel, and I like the way you look at me and I havent had that since Allison." he stopped after her name, like saying it out loud was surreal and unexpected, when he continued his voice was much quieter and uneven, "We werent even together when it happened, but she was the first person I ever loved. Sometimes its harder than other times, but these past couple days, with you, its never hard."

"Scottt-"

" But I dont want you to feel like I am only interested in you because of that." he turned tp her in his seat, and she kept looking forwards. "I mean, Im not even the same person I was when she was alive. I spent alot of time blaming her death on my death, but like you said, theres some things I just cant control," he was thinking out loud, "I dont exactly know what we have Alicia, and I dont know where its going, but I know that I feel something for you that I havent felt in a long time. And I dont want to let that go. I thiink ready for something new, something different."

Alicia didnt know what to think. She was torn, and she barley knew Scott. She wondered if she was perhaps making a horrible decision. "But what if you arent? I dont know if 'thinking' your ready is really fair to me"

Scott considered this before responding, "I would never unintentionally hurt you."

"I know." that wasnt something she questioned about Scott. They kept driving in silence, now thier surroundings were completely engulfed in the Mojave desert.

"Im getting the feeling that this converstion didnt goexactly as you would have liked." he said finally.

"I dont know. Im going to let the ball stay in your court for now. You tell me what you want, and I will see if we feel the same." she felt like that was a lame answer, but it was the only one she could come up with

"Right now, I just want two weeks where noody tries to kill me, or my friends. Right now, I want to be anybody on earth but me. Right now I wish I werent the Alpha. I wish I was a regular teenager." he ran a hand through his thick brown hair.

"I understand completely"

"Last night was the first time I felt like that, like a regular teen, since Allison died. And Im not sure what that means, but it means something, and I dont want that to stop."

There were less people on the highway now, it was mostly empty but for a car pulled over on the side of the road about 20 yards ahead.

"I felt it too, but its scary, plus with all this crazy stuff going on-"

"speaking of crazy thats Stiles' Jeep." he pointed to the car, which they had now passed at 75 mph. It was parked sideways the backend hanging a bit into the freeway, and Alicia flipped a U to pull back around and park on the otherside of it.

There were foot prints in the dirt when Scott and Alicia stepped out of thier Jeep to approach the one that Stiles and Mj should be in. When they got closer, it was obvious that they were not. Derek wasnt there either, and the two front doors were still wide open.

Scott and Alicia approached the vehicle slowly, calling out for thier friends and peeking into the doors on tip toes. Scott kept his arm stretched back to keep Alicia safely behind him, but she was just as eager to see her cousin as he was to find them.

When they got closer, they could see the backseat covered in the familiar bad smelling black stuff, and it was splattered across the closest window.

"Oh Shit." Scott said.

"MJ!" Alicia called, spinning around when it registered what it looked like had happened. "STILES?" She circled the car as Scott tugged on a tuft of his thick hair and leaned further into the car. The edge of the highway dropped off to a steep decline, and there was a thick cloud of dirt trailing towards them from below.

"Scott, they might be down there." She stepped down off the road, as Scott came to where she stood.

"No. You stay-"

"Im not staying behind while you-"

He cut her off again, turning from the drop to round on her, "Derek is probably a blood thirsty rabid wolf by this time. He could kill you with one bite. Stiles and Mj could already be-"

Alicia stepped closer to him, "The last time you left me to wait, Mj didnt come back."

"She was fine like I told-"

"We need to stick together." she said the last line like it was final.

"I cant lose you too, okay? I just, I-"

"Im going with or without you McCall. Im not leaving my cousin again." She stepped forward and began the hike down the incline.

"We're all going to fucking die in the desert." Scott said finally, thowing his arms up and jogging downwards to catch up with her.


	16. Ch 14: Silver Lining

Stiles' idea was to somehow do a wide circle and come back on the other side of the freeway to hopefully flag down Scott and Alicia. But seeing as they had been walking for the greater part of an hour and could no longer see the road, Mj was begining to think that plan was now off the table. She debated on saying as much to Stiles, when he said it himself.

"We're lost."

It wasnt a question, it was a statement of fact, and him saying it in that defeated tone that he did, solidified Mj's worries. It was strange, you would think that all the wide empty seeming space in the desert would make it hard to get lost, but it was all so similar looking from a yard away that it was next to impossible to gage what direction you were heading in at any given time

This is what Mj and Stiles experienced as they persisted forward, glancing back nervously for any sign of rabid Derek. There wasnt.

"Maybe we should have never left the road." Mj was giving up, her head and shoulders were getting sunburned, and she was bleeding from multiple gashes on her arms and legs. She was covered completely in dirt, and there was some of that nasty black shit all over her shoes.

Stiles looked flushed walking next to her, his normally pale complexion a bright pink, especially in his cheeks. He was sweating like her, and they both sucked in the hot air in deep breaths.

"We should sit in the shade for a while." Stiles said, pointing ahead at a large pile of rocks that provided some shady release from the heat.

She was still shaking because of the imminent threat which could or could not be following them. She was shaken out of her wits, scared beyond the point of coming back, to the point where she felt her head might explode if she didn't drop down dead or get torn to pieces within the next five minutes.

"What if-"

"If he was following us, he would have caught up by now."

They reached the rock pile and sat in the dirt behind the closest largest rock. The shadow that stretched behind it was just big enough for the two of them if they sat facing eachother rather close, and Mj took the seat closest to the rock so she could lean her back against it. It was cool from not having touched the sun yet, and she moved her long hair over to fall on one shoulder, so she could rest her neck against it.

"I think what I look like right now properly represents how I feel right now." She said, and inspected the bruises and scrapes on her leg. They were mostly small, surface abrasions, but one that looked deep and still bled, leaking down the back of her leg and into her sock.

Stiles sat cross legged in front of her, and squinted down at the wound himself. "Mind if I?" she nodded, and he took her leg in his hands, turning it over to inspect. "Theres dirt inside of it." he said, "And its still bleeding sort of."

"Theres dirt all over me."

Some of her blood dropped onto his hand, and he seemed not to notice as he looked down at the part of his shirt that was torn and further ripped off a piece. His stomach was suprisingly, muscular, not in the same rough cut way that Scott and Derek were, but soft, and light like the rest of him.

"We'll clean it when we get back to Deaton." he wrapped the piece around her leg as he spoke. Stiles had a surprisingly delicate touch, and she felt tingly with his hands on her.

"_if _we get back to Deaton."

"We will." he smiled, there was dirt all over his face, but for some reason Mj thought it added to his unusual features. He had a line of it right under his eye and it covered a mole that she hadnt even realized she knew was there. She suddenly was aware of the fact that she had memorized his face enough to notice.

"How do you do that?" she asked, as he finished tying the makeshift bandage and set her leg back down in front of him.

"Easy, you just take some cloth and tie i-" he was surprisingly calm and it bothered Mj.

"No I mean, how are you so optimistic all the time? How are you so sure that we will make it back?"

"I wouldnt call myself optimistic. I think Im just not as despondent as you are. I see a problem and I try and fix it. If anything, Scott's the optimistic one, and I know we'll get back because I know Scott."

"Your not optimistic but you put all your trust into someone who is? Isnt that being optimistic? Dont be stupid Stiles."

Stiles rolled his eyes he looked at his own scrapes, which seemed to be all minimal. "Youre either totally cool or a complete bitch, I dont get it. You need to chill out. As soon as something goes wrong you freak out."

"Seriously?"she pursed her lips and tilted her head before going on, "How old are you? 17? We just stared death in the face and you kept your wits together completely. What does that say about you?" Mj started dragging her finger through the sand, making swirls and shapes. "At least freaking out is rational."

"Sure Mj, reacting to change with instant aggressiveness or fear is rational."

"Im not aggresive."

"You stared death in the face and broke a bat over its face, what does that say about you?"

Mj didnt know what to say, she wasnt expecting that. "It was a natural reflex."

Stiles leaned back, laid down in the dirt, and looked upwards at the sky with his hands behind his head, "Come here, lay down for a sec." he patted the ground next to him, the tension that was around them seemed to dry up with those words. She laid down. They were quiet for a while before he spoke.

"See that?"

She wasnt even paying attention to what he was looking at, but now she let her eyes follow his hand which was pointing upwards. The sky in the desert looks different. Its bluer somehow, a vibrant loud blue. The sun seems brighter against it. There was one cloud against all that blue, a tiny wisp of smoke almost. White and puffy and alone.

"The cloud?" she asked.

"Yes, the cloud. See how that part around the edge looks like a different color almost."

"...The bottom side of the cloud?"

"No. That part right there," he let his voice get a bit higher, and he went up on one elbow to look at Mj while he spoke, one hand still jutted upwards, "on the very edge?"

"The silver lining. Youre making a silver lining metaphor? Really?"

"And if you can see the silver lining in the cloud, then why cant you see it any other time?" He let his hand drop but still sat perched on his elbow.

"It looks like the bottom side of a cloud. Because in _real life_ there isnt a silver linin-"

He didnt let her finish before barking out a loud, "Bullshit Mj." He pointed towards the cloud again, "Its right here right in front of you _literally you just pointed it out_ and you can't even see it."

And then she did, all at once, she saw it.

She saw _him. _And she knew he was right, there was a silver lining to this situation. And that silver lining wasnt on the cloud, but it was sitting in front of her. It had dirt on its face, and it was sweating a bit, and there was a scratch under its eye, and its hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions and it wasnt the silver lining she had expected but it was _a_ _silver lining. _

Mj went up on her own elbows, and she looked at his face for the first time this close. His eyelashes were longer than she had noticed before, and his mouth much bigger. He was studying her face like she was his, and she could see that he wasnt quite sure what she was going to do next. The bright sunlight seemed to dim a bit when she whispered, "We are being hunted by a rabid werewolf, we are lost in the desert, we have no food or water or shelter- _and all I want to do is kiss you._" And she did.

Everything around her seemed to melt away once she pressed her lips against his own, and all she could see or feel was Stiles, who miraculously, was kissing her back. His mouth was warm and his tongue pushed between her lips for just a moment before flicking back, as if to just steal the tiniest taste of her. Her heart didnt so much as race as flutter in her chest as they broke away.

He looked somewhat vulnerable and confused, and watched her pull a strand of sandy hair behind her ear. Stiles was weighing her with his eyes, and she followed them as they slid down her face to her bosom and then the place where her waist pinched into an hourglass shape.

Mj was still just a few inches from his face, and he was almost all the way out of the shade now that the sun continued to move in the , who always had everything to say, was silent.

"Maybe I shouldnt have done that." she said

"Maybe you should do it again." he smirked a bit and she didnt wait a beat to crash into him.

This time, she didnt hold back and instead pushed her tongue in his mouth forcefully, and he responded with equal force. Hungrily they embraced, and she pushed him downwards as they kissed, so his back was against the dirt again, and her body was on top of his.

She let her legs go on either side of him, and it was remarkable how easily they fit together, like predetermined puzzle pieces. The desert, around them, seemed to add fuel to the fire, because it didnt matter that they were outside in the open, more so, it was enchanting.

He was putting a hand into her hair, and she broke her lips away from his so she could kiss his neck, and then his collar bone. He pushed her, gently, to the side, so he could climb on top of her and kiss her mouth again, slowly this time, cupping her face in one hand before putting his right hand slowly up the bottom of her shirt, unsure almost if she would object.

She groaned breathily into him, as his hand passed her chest and went into her bra. He fondled her carefully and kissed her just as carefully, like every move was a practiced and thought out action and not just a product of passion. His kisses were almost all lips, his tongue was shy but frequent to, flicking in and out of her mouth. He moved his hands back down to her waist and held her there under him.

She broke away enough to say, "I knew you would be like this."

He smirked, "Like what?"

"A tease, jesus christ!" she laughed and he laughed too, rolling over to lean on his elbow again off the ground.

"Natural reflex."

"Oh fuck off." she shoved him a bit and he laughed and fell onto his back again. The cloud that was over head was gone, evaporated under the heat of the sun, and they were both sweating heavily now, but it didnt matter right then.

"Do you _really_ think Scott will find us?" Mj wondered out loud.

The voice that answered wasnt the one she expected, but she knew it as soon as she heard it.

"Thats what Im counting on." it was the husky feminine voice of the Desert Wolf.


	17. Chapter 15: Trust

"I think maybe Derek was laying here." Scott was crouched down next to a spot of dirt that looked disturbed. There was black goo mixed with blood in a puddle next to it. Alicia thought that Scott made a safe assumption as she scanned the desert floor for shoeprints in the sand, which surrounded them. She recognized Mj's boots among them.

"They slid down the hill," Scott pointed behind him as he stood up and kept his eyes on the ground, "looks like they were followed by Derek, and he shifted here." he pointed to a semi perfect paw print, "but Im not sure, looked like theres smaller paw prints here-a dog or-"

"A coyote?" Alicia put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.

"This is bad." Scott said solemnly, looking into the distance with his eyes glowing a deep red. "I can smell her."

"Do you think they're okay?" Alicia was watching the ground herself. She noticed the pieces of a broken bat strewn among the sand and sighed.

"Yeah. Stiles will take care of them." but he didnt sound like he believed himself.

"Stiles is scrawny, weak and close to useless."

He didnt argue, but shot her a disapproving look before saying, "Maybe you should stay-"

"Im not staying behind, Scott. I wont leave Mj again."

He nodded, "Fine. But be prepared. I dont know whats coming next." He didnt argue much, although the skepticism played on his face. He took the high ground, always strong, always the leader.

Alicia emulated this quality more once she began to follow him into the desert. With each step the reality of the situation seemed to sink in deeper. They were highly unprepared for a face off with the desert wolf, especially if Derek had slipped into his rabid wolf stage. The sun was high overhead and she was already sweating uncomfortably through her shirt. They walked for a while, and she could feel the dry heat turning her mouth into sand.

"How are we going to do this?" Alicia asked, breaking the silence.

"We are going to save our friends. All of them."

"I got that, but shouldn't we have a plan? We could be walking into a trap." they stopped near some more footprints in the ground, behind a large rock. "Actually, Im like 99% percent sure this is a trap."

Scott crouched down on the floor again and touched a hand down lightly, "They were here too. I think this is where she took Mj and Stiles, they probably arent far."

"We wont be much help if its a trap."

His head shot up fast, "I know its a trap okay? Saying it over and over isnt going to make it any better." This was the first time she had seen him flinch in the eyes of danger.

"And ignoring it isnt going to make it go away!" He stood up as she spoke and watched her with a look close to fury, "We dont have any weapons and she is somehow spreading around a virus that could kill you."

"Have you already decided to turn back? Just a second ago you said-"

"Don't put words into my mouth Scott. Im not saying we should turn back. Im saying maybe we shouldnt run towards danger! Maybe we should come up with-"

"We dont have time to sit and think!" He was yelling now, or pleading- she couldnt tell.

"We dont have the power, or the strength, or even the brains to go head to head with a grown wolf woman who has it out to get us-"

"Maybe I do." Scott said finally, in a voice that sounded deflated. "Maybe I could fight her, distract her or something while you guys-"

Alicia was getting mad herself now. Scotts plan wasnt a solution, _it was a suicide_. A sacrifice. His life for his friends lives.

"If you go head to head with her, your going to get infected and then-"

"And then I will die, probably. Or you guys will find the cure." Scotts voice cracked as he said it, and she noticed now that he was sweating too. She could see the heat rising off the ground in waves around his legs.

"This is so stupid." She thought out loud, holding back frustrated tears. "There has to be a better way. If you," her voice disappeared in her throat for a moment before coming back, "if you die, Liam and Derek will-"

And it hit her like a ton of bricks. She had it. It wasnt the best idea, and it wasnt the safest idea, but it was better than going in with nothing. "Derek. Thats what you have to do Scott. We were only half right. You dont go for the wolf first, you go for Derek."

"But Derek is infected anyways-"

"Exactly." Her mind was going a thousand miles per hour, "You go to Derek, get infected yourself, then fight the Desert Wolf and-"

A shadow of a smile crept across his lips, "Then she'll have it too. And if she has it, she has to get the cure-"

"Which would in turn, save everyone." She was mimicking his half smile now. He was half running half walking again, leading them to the place where he could smell the desert wolf, Alicia trailed him, thinking of all the flaws in the plan they had. They were sitting ducks, essentially, and most of the plan was based on luck. Luck that they didnt seem to have alot of. "Alot could go wrong, you could die-"

"I wont die." he took determined forward steps, but made brief contact with Alicia out of the corner of his eye.

"You could not get to Derek in time."

"I could smell his rotting arm the second we stepped out of the car, I think I will-"

"You could not bite her or scratch her in time. Or maybe she is immune and-"

He stopped in his tracks and spun around to face her. "Stop! Just Stop."

She did.

"I need you to trust me. We've worked together as a team before, and we made it out alive."

"I trust you." she said after a second. She didnt want to trust him, and she knew, logically that their chances of failure were much higher than their chances of success. But she did trust him, with every fiber of her being. She couldn't imagine him leading them to death, she couldnt imagine _not trusting _him.

"Then we're going in." He turned around and headed towards the largest rock formation they had seen yet. At first glance, it looked like a mountain, but when Alicia did a double take she realized it was actually a thousand boulders piled ontop of one another. She felt that if you just slid one rock out, the whole mountain would fall over and crush them.

"Wait, in where?"

Scott turned around and pointed to a small gap in-between two rather large boulders, "In there."


	18. Chapter 16: Malia

Mj's arm was broken. She could feel the bones separated under her skin, stretching, pulling, cracking. Her head was bleeding from somewhere, and when she moved her arm to touch it, she remembered painfully, that it was tied behind her back and that it was definitely broken. "Fuck," Her vision was coming back, slowly, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She could hear Derek breathing raggedly somewhere to her left.

"Stiles?"

"He's sleeping."

She could see her now, the desert wolf, a dark outline on the otherside of the cave, or rock wall, or wherever the hell they were. She was tall, and thin, the same boxy build as Malia, but her hair was a dark waxy brown, and looked unkempt. Her long legs were scratched and dirty, and she had dirt on her face. She looked not to notice or care. She looked like she was used to the dirt.

Mj tried to spin around where she was sitting, but it just made her yank her arm worse and she had to hold back a yelp.

"He's tied behind you sweetheart, and I wouldnt twist that arm any farther." she walked slowly towards her, on bare feet, which on the rocky ground seemed like a bad choice. "it was an accident, I didnt want to hurt anyone-" she stopped, "Well, I didnt want to hurt you two."

"What the fuck is your problem?" Mj said angrily.

"I just said it was an accident. I dont go around breaking children's arms-"

"No bitch. What the fuck is your problem in general?! You kidnap me, you bite Derek, you get Liam bitten-"

She laughed a crazed, maniacal sounding laugh, "Havent you figured it out? Im trying to-"

"Kill Scott, yes. Thats obvious enough, but why? and why not just like shoot him from far away or something? Why do it in this rediculous horrible way where-"

"This way makes sense. To take out an alpha, you first have to take out his pack."

"What the hell is the significance of an Alpha without a pack?"

"Plenty." she was tight lipped and anrgy. This was not even close to the same person she had met just a few days ago. Surface wise, yes, but before she seemed, together, calm and collected. Meticulous even. Now, she seemed _derailed_. She was moving quickly and she was antsy, she kept glancing out of the opening of the cave.

"So are you insane or just like on _alot _of drugs?"

"The first time I kidnapped you I let you talk because I was trying to gather information. This time I dont need you to talk, this time, I will rip your tongue out with my teeth."

"Insane then. Got it." The desert wolf advanced a few steps, and as she did, her face twisted and changed into something only half human. Her fingernails got longer and sharper and kept growing until they were like small daggers on the tips of her fingers.

"Dont-" Stiles was stirring behind her, his back pushed against her own, and she felt him try and wriggle from the bonds that held both of them. She yelped in pain this time at the unexpected tug.

"ahhh, fuck! Dont. Move. Stiles."

"Where is she? Where the hell are we?"

"You're waiting for your rescue ofcourse." The desert wolf was still wringing her hands and pacing the cave. Derek was still nowhere in sight. She must have been keeping him somewhere further in. Mj realized, that she too was probably somewhat affected by the open wound. She kept talking, "Once Scott gets here, I can finish this finally, and you guys can go home. I never wanted to drag anyone else into this, but theres only so many ways…" she dragged off.

"Ways to kill? I'd have to disagree, people have been trying to kill me for quite a while now and theres plenty of ways-"

"Not you boy!" She snapped at Stiles, "A True Alpha." her voiced changed suddenly, and she seemed far away, "Thats why nobody has succeeded yet. You cant hunt a werewolf the same way you would hunt a rabbit."

"But why hunt at all? You dont have to be this person," he was trying to make eye contact with her as she walked, but her face was masked in shadow. It was dark and stale inside of the cave, and the hot air was wetter, harder to breathe. "Malia thought she was-"

"Malia is the whole reason Im doing this-" she said it fast and sure.

"Malia doesnt want this." Mj could feel Stiles' shoulders relax a bit at the sound of her name, "I know her well, she's my girlfriend." That last word seemed to echo in Mj's head a thousand times and she felt her heart sink a little, then let it freeze over. She knew he had a girlfriend when she kissed him, and thier moment in the desert wouldnt change thier relationship. They had been confused and lost and caught up in a moment. She pushed the thoughts from her head as the desert wolf continued.

"If this isnt what she wants, then why hasn't she come to stop me herself?"

That sentence hung in the air, as all three of them came to the same realization, "Malia isnt with either of you then." Mj said what was on all their minds. The desert wolf roared violently, and the noise came back to them a thousand times, bouncing off the walls of the cave in a furious echo.

Once it was finally quiet enough for them to speak, The desert wolf turned around. "If she's gone. Its my fault. And Im getting her back the only way I can."

Mj's arm felt like it was being torn off, "Uhm, before you do that you could untie us..."

The desert wolf cackled her crazy laugh once more before saying in a childish voice,

"I dont think you understand. Im not killing Scott to _get to_ Malia. Im killing Scott to _save her._"


	19. Chapter 17: Rescue: Part 1

Scott stood silhouetted against the opening of the cave. It wasnt so much a cave as a crack, that went deep into the large rock formation overhead. Huge rocks, the size of three Scotts, sat all around them, leaning against eachother haphazardly. It made Alicia nervous, she had never seen anything like this on the east coast. She assumed that the mountains and hills she was accustomed too looked some what like this under the grass and packed dirt and trees, but seeing this all bare, on the flat land of the desert was breathtakingly terrifying.

Scott turned around before he took another step, "The desert wolf, Stiles and Mj are right inside but Derek is deeper, not in the same place they are." he whispered.

"So she must not be able to be in the same room as him either?" Alicia thought this was good news, it meant the desert wolf wasnt immune to the disease. That their plan would work.

"Hopefully, I just have to get past her and get to Derek before she gets to me."

"You will." she whispered back, without hesitation. He looked just as shooken as she felt, and she could see the doubt in his eyes. "This is just a minor obstacle. Like you said earlier-"

And for the second time he kissed her, unexpectedly and briefly. Her nose filled with his scent instantly. It was sweet and minty, and a bit salty from all the sweat. Both of thier lips were cracked from the dry sun, but she still reveled in the feel of his own against hers. He cupped her face slightly with his thumb. Alicia was caught off guard, and their foreheads bumped a bit when he pulled away.

A roar echoed from within the cave, and both Alicia and Scott jumped at the sound of it.

"Lets go." he said, the sureness and determination returning to his voice.

The heat turned sticky once they took that first step in, it was darker, and it took a moment for Alicia's eyes to adjust. The inside looked more like a cave than the outside, in fact, she couldnt even tell they were merely under a giant pile of rocks. It was a huge long cavern, and it went deeper than she could see. They could hear voices from deeper inside, and she recognized Mj's as it echoed off the walls , followed by an unfamiliar female cackle; the desert wolf.

Scott lead her around one corner, and the cavern opened up wider. Stiles and Mj sat on the rock floor, tied back to back, while a woman stood above them, a large smile stretching from ear to ear.

"What the hell are you doing here? Its a trap-" Mj said shaking her head and sighing loudly.

"Scott McCall. We meet. Finally." The Desert Wolf cut Mj off and began to walk slowly to where Scott was in front of Alicia.

His body language had changed completely in the time it took the Desert Wolf to speak. He was rigid, and his fists were balled at his sides, he looked bigger somehow, and his eyes glowed dark red. Alicia was almost scared by how quickly he could shift from innocent to menacing, his face contorted strangely in anger.

"Let my friends go." he growled.

"Sure! As soon as youre dead, everyone can go back to living thier lives." she smiled, still walking towards Scott. She looked much like Alicia had imagined, thin and bony, with long scraggly unkempt hair, only it was darker than Malia's. There was some gray mixed in her mane, with all that dark, the same gray that the coyote in the woods had donned on her fur, "Well except your little puppy, what was his name? Liam?" She clicked her tongue, "He'll be lucky if he lives through the next hour." She spoke to him in a mocking tone, like he was a misbehaving child.

"If Liam dies-"

"The only person that has to die." She was face to face with him now, and her eyes matched his own, glowing and red, four embers in the dark. "is you." And Scott swiped with a clawed hand, just as the desert wolf began to shift herself into a huge coyote. For a second, all Alicia could discern was a blur of dust and claws and teeth. She stood forzen, still behind the scuffle. An explosion of growls and scratching against rock, thuds and groans, and the sound of flesh against flesh filled her ears.

"ALICIA!" Mj's screech of a voice finally shook her out of a funk, and she stepped back just as Scott flung the coyote against the far wall. The coyote jumped right back on him. "Untie us!" Mj was yelling, and Alicia quickly made her way across the cave to where Mj and Stiles still sat.

"You guys shouldnt have come after us-" Stiles was saying, as she bent down next to them, and examined the knot they were in.

"We had no choice. We werent going to just turn around and-" She started to untie it carefully, trying to ignore the sounds of the fight still going on behind her. Trying not to watch the shadows dance around the cave walls.

"We need a weapon or something. He cant beat her-AHHHH JEsus ChRiSt! My fucking arm is broken-watch out!" Mj was still facing the fight, her eyes were watery, and her face bright red. There was dried blood on one side of it. Stiles looked much better, but had a matching gash on the side of his head.

"Shit. Sorry dude." Alicia said, trying not to touch the arm in question, which was twisted awkwardly behind her back. There was definitely an unusual bend to it. "We-we have a plan." She got the knot loose and Stiles stood up quickly, turning around to help Mj up.

"Well maybe you should hurry up and get to it-" he said nodding towards Scott.

She glanced back at the fight, which Mj and Stiles had gaged well. Scott wasn't winning, in fact now, he was pinned under the large Coyote, turning his head to avoid its wild gnashing jaws.

"She's faster than him." Stiles concluded, as they watched Scott slide out from under the coyote just to get pinned immediately once again. He had a deep scratch on one cheek, but still growled and tore into the coyote above him.

"Where's Derek?" Alicia asked, looking at both of them in turn. Mj's broken arm hung strangely to the side, and her other hand was pressed against her head. Her face scrunched up.

"No way he'd be any help, he went bat shit earlier. Tried to kill us." Mj said a pained look on her face.

"Well thats the plan! So we better find him." Alicia shot back.

"That cant be the plan. Are you kidding me? This wasnt a plan this was a fucking suicide missio-" Stiles said incredulously, as Mj started to speak at the same time.

"I heard him that way earlier but-"

Alicia didnt wait for them to move, and she didnt stop to argue with Stiles.

Instead, she ran in the direction Mj had nodded, jumping over a large rock in the process and skidding around tight corners farther down the cavern. It was darker the further she went, and she was reminded of running through the mines with Scott before, only now, she was alone. Growls still echoed off the walls wherever she went, and she kept having to turn around to make sure the fight wasnt following her. She spotted Derek ahead, lying in the dirt in a corner of the cave. He was still in his wolf form, and his eyes were closed. At first glance, from the size of the wound on his side, she thought he was dead. But when she looked closer, she could see the steady rise and fall of his belly.

She slowed down when she got close, and tried to step lightly on the ground. Alicia's heart was beating a thousand miles per hour, and it sat in her throat, filling her ears with the steady THUMP THUMP THUMP. She let herself get about two feet away, shaking slightly on her knees as she crouched down closer to the sleeping wolf.

She cleared her throat before talking, and realized that her mouth was completely devoid of any liquid. Just as sandy as the desert outside.

"D-D-Derek?" she whispered, hoping beyond all hope that there was some scrap of the man left inside that rabid wolfs head.

The black wolf's eyes shot open, glowing a bright blue, its pupils dialted, they swivled around and met her own eyes. For half a second, she thought she could see Derek somewhere in there, and she reached out a hand, only slightly.

The wolf snapped its jaws at her fingers, just missing the tips by a centimeter, and in a split second seemed to heave itself onto its feet. Eyes still fixed on her, it leaned heavily to one side as its mouth began to foam ferociously.

"Shiiiiiittt." Alicia mumbled, toppling backwards onto her butt, as the wolf took a shaky step towards her.


	20. Ch 17: Rescue: Part 2

Mj's head was spinning, her arm was throbbing, and she could barely breathe inside the cave. Alicia had rushed to find Derek, and it was taking her longer than Mj had deemed 'safe' to return. She was losing faith in thier little mission, and her silver lining, Stiles, stood next to her completely detatched. He kept stepping towards Scott and the Coyote- still rolling about on the floor- then stepping back towards Mj. He was confused, lost, broken, this was the first time she had seen him so helpless. But Mj couldnt even focus on him-or the fight-or Alicia-for too long, because her head was pounding, and she was dizzy, and the walls of the cave felt like they were moving slowly inwards. She plopped back down onto the rock floor, her vision blurry, her hearing distorted. She patted the spot on her head that all the pain seemed to be radiating from, it felt wettish. She could have sworn it was fine just a second ago.

"Alicia still isnt back yet. She should be back. We have to do _something._" Stiles was practically ripping his hair out.

"She'll be back." Mj said, turning her head to look down the cavern Alicia had darted down_. Was that a shadow of someone coming around the corner? Or were her eyes playing tricks on her? _She felt queasy, and she tried not to think about the word _**vomit**_**.** She felt him rest her eyes on her.

"Shit. Mj, you're really pale."

"I'll be fine." She set her head in her hands, then jolted back up at the pain of moving her broken arm. Her adrenaline rush was wearing off, and now she could feel her injuries weighing down on her. She tried to sit back up straight, but everytime her head was upright, her brain was swimming. Stiles bent down so his face was level with hers.

"Hey- Stay with me-" he was talking to her, but all she could focus on was the snarling noises of Scott and the coyote behind her, and Scott was screeching now, a horrible noise that made both Stiles and Mj cringe and squirm. Her vision got fuzzy again, Stiles's face splitting into two and then four and then going back into one. She could hear footsteps behind her, Stiles still talking calmly ahead of her, snarling snarling snarling everywhere. She felt the urge to throw up come and fade again.

"...listening to me?" Stiles finally finished talking and now had his hand cupped under her chin.

Mj turned her head to focus down the cavern once again, ignoring Stiles, not because he was annoying but because she thought she might barf iif she opened her mouth. She could see tennis shoes rounding the corner- it was Alicia!

She bounded through the cavern, Derek's raging rabid wolf form trailing her heels. She didnt look scared, but determined-ready. Stiles stood up as Alicia slid into the cave, sidestepping Derek's deadly jaws, easily.

"What are you guys still doing in here? Get the hell out!" She said through pants as she kept going towards Scott.

Scott was still pinned under the desert wolf, and when Alicia began advancing towards the desert wolf, he shoved her back with a renewed strength. Derek snipped about at Alicia's heels, and she avoided him rather gracefully in his disoriented state, his jaws flung foam all about the room, and his wound leaked blood and black crap wherever he stepped.

Alicia bent down low to the ground and scooped up a rock into her hand, then jumped onto a rock herself, so when Derek jumped after her, he only got a mouthful of granite. Derek the wolf gave up on Alicia, and spun around to where she had led him to Scott and the coyote, Scott still wrestling to get her off of him.

He looked tired, but there was less of a defeat behind his eyes, and Alicia had instantly brought his spirits up with her arrival. This did not deter the fact that he was losing, and Stiles realized this first, piecing together the plan in his head quickly- as he tended to do. Mj sat still, trying to absorb the situation one piece at a time.

"TOSS IT! TOSS IT!" He shouted from next to Mj. Alicia threw the rock, and it hit the target, the desert wolf, who was temporarily distracted. Just long enough for Scott to shove her off of him in one heave and send her flying into Derek, who immediately latched on to her, shaking the coyote's form beneath his jaws. The coyote looked like a stuffed animal inside the wolf's mouth, and he shook her back and forth, her body flopping around limply inbetween teeth. She was fidgeting to get out, foam and black goo matting into her gray fur.

"We need her alive!" Scott said, scrambling onto his feet, just as Alicia jumped down from the rock, taking another rock from the many at her feet and smacking Derek across the head.

"Ah! We need him alive too!" Stiles said putting a hand up and wincing.

"He'll be fine." Scott said, exhaling deeply as the Desert Wolf and Derek crumpled to the floor. The coyote slowly transforming back into the woman who was in the cave earlier. She held the place on her stomach where she was bitten closely, there was blood gushing from the wound, and her eyes looked watery and shocked.

Mj couldnt help but noticed how utterly small the desert wolf looked now that she was defeated- bitten and on the verge of sobbing on the cave floor. She looked like Malia now, more than she ever had before. A lost little girl. Alone.

Stiles was smiling next to Mj, "We did it. We fucking did it." he looked ecstatic, but he was the only one. Scott and Alicia looked just as ragged as Mj felt, caked with dirt, scratched and tired, they breathed heavily from across the room.

"Theyre still all infected with that virus, we are at least 2 hours out of Beacon hills, and somehow we have to get both Derek and her to the car-" Alicia said, breaking Stiles' happiness with her cold brash approach at reality. Mj found it refreshing, she was scared to think it was all over, because every time she had so far, it had turned out to be just the beginning. Just a few days ago, she had thought they were all psychic, now she almost laughed at the thought.

"I dont think Ive ever been more tired in my life." Scott said, and he did look it. He had shifted back into his teenage self, and the lines on his face looked much deeper. There was still a large wound on his cheek. This reminded Mj of her own wounds all at once, and she felt them all again.

She leaned over and threw up all over Stiles' shoes.


	21. Chapter 18: Banter

Alicia and Stiles stood alone a the base of the high rise that lead up to the highway. She could still see the trail of where Stiles and Mj had slid down earlier, covered in rocks and disturbed dirt. When her and Scott had first driven into the desert, she remembered the sense of awe that had over took her, the breathtaking emptiness of it all. Now, when she glanced back at the ground they had just walked on, and saw the rock formation a few miles away, she felt queasy. She could live without coming back to the desert for a long time. It was still hot as hell, and her mouth felt drier than silently hoped there wouldnt be anymore surprise kisses from Scott today. Her tongue felt like sandpaper.

"This wasnt fun to go down and I dont think it will be fun to go up." Stiles said, still looking at the incline, one eye squinting towards the sun. His face was red from the walk and the heat, and the side of his head that was facing Alicia was still sticky with dried blood.

"Fuck, I know." Alicia replied, stepping forwards and trying not to slip on the loose dirt, "So how are we gunna do this?" She looked ahead of her again, and could see the guard rail on the side of the freeway a few yards above.

"Well," they both breathed heavily as they walked upwards, sliding a bit every few steps, "We're gunna take my Jeep back over to the cave- uh crack in the rocks- whatever," he lost his footing mid sentence and slid down a few feet, "Im gunna take like 5 adderall so I dont drop dead where Im standing, by then hopefully Scott and Mj have the flesh hungry man beasts tied up, we'll all go home, cure everyone, and live happily ever after." He smiled. They were about halfway up the incline now, and Stiles' Jeep was clear in view.

"Yeah I remember the original plan, but theres a guardrail there we forgot about."she pointed ahead. "We could ram it."

"We arent fucking ramming my baby." he made air quotes over the words 'ramming'

"Oh My .God. You dont have insurance?"

"My insurance doesnt cover intentionally crashing through a freeway divider."

Alicia rolled her eyes, they were at the rail now, hopping over it and heading towards Stiles' Jeep on the side of the highway.

"Shitty insurance I guess." Stiles shot her a look that told her to shut up, his lips pursed and his eyelids thin as he rolled his eyes and opened the door to the Jeep. "Anyways, if we want to make good time I would say its our best bet." she climbed in after him, and they sat in the drivers and passenger seat of the car for a beat.

Stiles put his hands on the wheel, then took them off again.

"They're waiting for us." Alicia coaxed.

Stiles put the key in the ignition, but didnt turn it.

"Liam is on his _deathbed_ Stiles."

He turned the key, "Ive had my Jeep for 5 years, Ive only even known Liam for a year-"

"Stiles-"

"I know, I know," the engine started as and he backed up to the other side of the freeway, then turned around so the Jeep's front end was facing the guardrail off the side of the freeway, "If my car craps out after this, we're all screwed."

"You have 4 wheel drive! its an off roading vehicle-technically." She tried not to let the doubt she felt show in her voice.

"Yeah! Okay Alicia, 4 wheel drive is _totally _going to help us smash through a low hanging pole."

"Just go-" and he slammed on the gas before she could finish, sending them jolting forwards.

Somehow, after being face to face with a rabid wolf, the scene that unfolded in front of Alicia's eyes was anticlimactic. They flew through the guardrail like it was made of butter and not metal. The Jeep was in the air momentarily, all four wheels off the ground, Stiles' knuckles burning white as he clutched the steering wheel, while Alicia gripped her seatbelt and prayed not to fly through the windshield. Then all at once with a triumphant clunk they landed on the middle of the decline, wheels spinning in the dirt and sand flying all around them.

Stiles led them-somehow-down, and slowed immensely as the tires landed on the hard packed dirt of the desert floor.

"We cant go to fast down here, I dont want to get a flat." he said breathing a relief filled sigh.

"The front end looks a bit bent in-"

"Shut up."

Alicia laughed. It felt good to have light banter with Stiles, not to think about her friends dying, or about what the plan was to save the day. Stiles knew how to make stressful situations seem less stressful, and she watched him for a moment as he carefully led drove them towards the rock formation at 5 miles per hour, avoiding cacti and rocks along the way.

"It smells like barf in here." Alicia said, forgetting momentarily that Mj had blown chunks at Stiles' feet.

"Yeah, roll down your window. These were my good shoes too." he started rolling his own down and she followed his lead. "So what's up with you and Scott?" he asked, glancing at Alicia from the corner of his eye.

"I dont know." she replied.

"You guys seemed to be getting along the other night." he smiled out of one side of his mouth.

"I mean, we were. Then I heard about Allison, and we had this really weird conversation in the car earlier, and then outside of the cave he kissed me again. I dont know." She felt strangely about it now, she didnt know how okay she was with Scott just kissing her whenever he felt it convenient, but then again, he was _Scott McCall_. He was a great leader, he seemed genuine, and he was definitely sexy. But she wasnt the kind of girl to go after someone unless she knew it was the 'real thing'. Or at least as close to real you can get at 17.

"Do you like him?" he asked, bluntly.

"Well yes!" she surprised herself by how easily that question was answered. "But- I mean its more complicated than that-"

"You like him, and he likes you. Whats so complicated about that?"

The rock formation was still about a mile away, but it already was much bigger on the horizon.

"Im not the kind of person to just mess around with random guys. I'm not-"

Stiles laughed, "And you think Scott is? Have you met Scott?"

Alicia laughed too, "Well what about you and Mj?" she had almost forgotten about Malia, but she decided it didnt matter anyways. She would at least try to play up her friend.

"I dont know- What? Why would you ask that even?" His face was already flushed from being in the sun, but she saw it get a deeper red.

"You're blushing!"

Stiles kept his face forward and pretended to focus harder on driving.

Alicia sighed, "You know once you get past that whole 'I hate everything' demeanor, she's really not that bad."

"I know. I'm just-" he closed his mouth, then opened it again, "Malia, and-"

"Its complicated? Yeah, I get it."

"Completely different situation."

"Something about the way youre avoiding this makes me think you like her too."

He cleared his throat, "Im not saying I dont. Im saying I just...shouldnt or...cant. Not right now at least."

"What were you saying a second ago? If you like someone and they like you than its not complicated?"

They were in front of the formation now, and Scott and Mj were in view, at the mouth of the cave. Stiles pulled over in front of them, "Like I said before, _different situation_."


	22. Chapter 19: Too Easy

Mj fell asleep on the way back to Beacon Hills, much to the protest of Scott, who was driving her moms car and smacking her leg gently every time her eyes closed. They had opted on having Stiles and Alicia drive the infected wolves, as to not accidentally poison Scott. When Mj came to, in between naps and blurry conversations, they were outside of the Veterinary Clinic. Stiles and Alicia were already inside, and she followed Scott groggily through the building and into the front office, where he told her to sit and wait.

She was only half aware of her surroundings. Her head felt like someone had broken a bottle over it, and she could feel her heartbeat in every limb. She plopped down into a swivel chair that made her head spin even worse, so she stood back up again. It was strange, she was disoriented in a way that she had only felt after consuming a large amount of alcohol, or not sleeping for hours. Things felt weirdly fuzzy and unreal. She kept looking around for Alicia or Stiles, but they were nowhere to be found. It made her uneasy.

"You probably have a concussion." She hadn't noticed there was anyone else in the room, and half fell over when she turned around to see the Desert Wolf tied to a chair much like the one Mj had just hopped out of.

"Yeah, I figured as much." she said, when she got over the initial shock, "Why arent you being watched by someone more competent?"

"Im tied up."

Mj's head hurt too bad for this right now. She just wanted to go to sleep. "Right. I can see that. But something is telling me those ropes are only holding you because you're letting them."

"I was bitten. Im _infected _remember? I lost." She was saying all of this far too calmly. The

"Too easy. You gave up. You were stronger and faster than Scott. You're the one who knows the cure. The cards are all in your hand." Desert Wolf's face was swimming over her neck as Mj tried to focus on her, moving independant of her head somehow-and then shifting back to normal.

"You're smarter than the other kids arent you?" The desert wolf was smiling cheekily. Her words echoed inside Mj's head eerily, like she was speaking from on top of a mountain. Even in her human form there was something _primal_ about her.

"Im looking at the whole picture. They believe what makes them feel better." Mj cleared her throat, "If you would stop doing that with your voice, and sit still for a second, it would be easier to focus on this conversation.

The Desert Wolf raised her eyebrows and leaned back, wincing a bit and grabbing her side. She laughed, "Im not doing anything hun. Must be messed up worse than you think"

"Im fine." she said, though her confidence in this was wavering, the incessant pounding in her brain was getting progressively louder the more she tried to ignore it. Mj kept imagining her heart, slowly moving upwards in her body, towards her head. The thump thump thump getting louder as it escalated. She found herself wondering if there was room enough inside her skull to hold her brain and her heart at the same time. This thought made her heart race faster, and she tried _again_ to focus on the conversation she had been having with the Desert Wolf.

"Is there a cure?"

"Ofcourse theres a cure." The Desert Wolf snapped back.

"Well are you going to give it to us?" Mj sat up on the front desk, feeling too queasy to stay standing for too long. She bumped her elbow on the way up, and instantly felt tears in her eyes. The pain made the pounding so hard that she could barely hear the woman when she spoke next.

"Watch that arm." the desert wolf warned. "Yes. I told them what the cure was, they're working on the little wolf now."

Mj was frustrated. She couldnt wrap her head around anything that was going on. She was left alone, again, with this horrible woman, while her friends handled more pressing matters. She felt disconnected from everything, and yet, she felt like she was the only person who understood the weight of what was going on. How could anyone accept so easily that The Desert Wolf was done? It seemed blatantly obvious-even in the state that Mj was in- that this was part of a much bigger plot.

"What the fuck was the point of all this? Why just give up?"

But it also occurred to her, as the desert wolf's face danced about her head, and Mj's heart slowly drifted into her throat, that it didnt matter what she thought. She was indefinitely on the backburner- shoved into corners with antagonists, and forgotten about.

"Its bothering you isnt it?" The older woman shrugged, "I had a change of heart."

Someone entered the room just as Mj started to get angry. She leaned forward so she was closer to the desert wolf. She may be unimportant, and her friends may or may not care about what's going on. They could live in a world where problems are easily solved in lu of accepting truths, but Mj would not. The corners of her eyesight, which revealed the larger part of the room were now completely blurry, and her vision tunnelled in and out as she tried to look somewhat menacing.

Her arm hanging limply at her side, she tried not too look as horrible as she felt. "You're going to come harass a bunch of high school kids, some of them completely innocent, to "protect" your daughter- who from the stories Ive heard-" she paused to breathe in, her eyesight going black momentarily before flashing back to normal "_you have never even met_. And then youre just going to up and give up while you're ahead? And Im supposed to believe this?" Mj laughed, and the force of it made her head split into two-or at least thats what it felt like- "You didnt have a change of heart, there's something going on here that you're not telling us. And Im going to find out." She felt wobbily, light, almost drunk. She slumped forward a bit too far, and this time all she saw was white, as someone caught her hurtling body.

Mj sunk into Scott's arms as he caught her and positioned her back onto the table, before looking back to the Desert Wolf, "If you touched her, I swea-"

"Relax." the woman rolled her eyes, "She can hurt herself just fine without any help from me."

"Will you get her out of here?" Scott asked a dark figure she couldn't make out who was lurking in the doorway.

"Where the hell have you guys been? Where is Alicia? Why are we just sitting here?" Mj asked, trying to focus on Scott's face with difficulty. She could see some featured clearly, the sideways chin, his eyebrows, the coif of his hair. The rest was a smudge. She wondered if everything in the room had always seemed so 2 dimensional.

"Calm down. I was waiting for my mom, she's gunna check everyone out, and then we will probably take you to the hospita-"

"Not going. No way. And Im not gunna have Mama Wolf check me out. God-" she turned her head too quickly and the pounding from earlier returned. "You realize that everything that happened today isnt just over, youre so naive!"

Scott had something in his hand that he was slowly inching towards Mj's face.

"I was just talking to the Desert Wolf and she practically told me tha-" It was getting closer, the big white blob that Scott was clutching, she couldnt gage how fast he was moving, but she could tell it was coming for her. She flinched, "Stop- what the fuck is that?!" Her arm shot up- the broken one, and thumped his, and she growled angrily, whatever it was he was holding plopping to the floor in one swift motion.

Scott put a hand on her shoulder gently, "Dont touch me." She said through gritted teeth. Mj could almost feel herself slipping out of control. It was hard keeping all the pieces of her thoughts together, she kept grasping at things or phrases spinning through her head.

"Jesus MJ! Calm down!" he bent down to pick up the object, "You're bleeding, I was just going to tell you to hold this-" he picked up the rag and placed it on her head gingerly. "there and apply pressure." she put her good arm there and pressed. The thumping in her head got a little quieter. Scott sat down in the swivel chair, and bent forward, she kept thinking he would say something, but didnt. It was her that spoke first.

"Where's Alicia?"

"She's with Stiles, working on Derek and Liam. Can you believe the cure was right under our noses the whole time?" he looked out of the window despondently. It was dark outside.

"Actually, yes." Mj sighed. "Seems about right." she moved to look out of the window, but her neck was too stiff to move that way, so she stayed in her position facing Scott. "Why is she," she paused halfway through the sentence, distracted by the lights in her eyes. They flashed at the corners, like strobe lights, "with Stiles again?" Scott was patiently listening to her as she stumbled through her thought process. She was frustrated, she was normally good with words, but right now, she could barely even talk. Her whole body felt hot, and all at once she was sweating profusely.

"They're helping Deaton. I just said that." he got up, "You dont look so good Mj," Mj's eyes fluttered inside her head, and the strobe lights' blinking intensified.

"Dont give me that shit Scott." she snapped, probably a bit to loud, "I mean, dont do the whole nice guy act with me, nobody can be as genuine as you all the time."

"Hey! Someone bring her some water or something" he called out behind him, putting hands on Mj's shoulders.

"Its not fair, Ive lived here for years you know." She was babbling incoherently, but still sitting up.

"I know." Scott was saying calmly, as a black shadow came in the room behind him.

"Nobody ever paid attention to me. Alicia comes with her fancy accent-" a cup of water appeared in Mj's hand, and Scott pushed it up to her lips. It cooled the inside of her mouth momentarily, but her whole body was still on fire. "and she gets you and Stiles? Wheres the logic there?"

"I dont know what you mean-"

"you know what I mean!" she drank another glass of water, as Scott pushed his hand onto her forehead.

"Mj you're burning up. We're going to take you to the hospital."


	23. Ch 20: Back to School

Alicia slept for a whole day. One whole, 24 hour period, lost completely to the overwhelming and long coming exhaustion that encompasses someone who runs with wolves. She spent much of the next day lounging around the house trying to avoid her Aunt who was absolutely livid. Much to Mj's chagrin, she had noticed, finally, something was amiss, when she got a call from the hospital saying Mj not only had a concussion, but also a broken arm, all while they were supposed to be safely at school. Now, just the tiniest of noises from either cousin would set her off.

She had taken both of their cell phones away and forced them to stay inside. They didnt hear from Scott or Stiles or anyone else. It was unnerving, and unnatural feeling. Alicia was accustomed to being disciplined back home by her actual parents. But her Aunt being anything but the bubbly, air headed woman she normally was just made Alicia feel bad. Afterall, she hadnt done anything to deserve being worried. She never did anything at all. Mj on the other hand, took the discipline like a four year old child. She egged her mother's anger on, stomping about the house and cursing loudly every few minutes.

The one place she could not ban them from, was school. Once the long and annoying weekend alone passed, Alicia woke up Monday morning feeling rejuvinated. She would finally have her normal Californian high school experience. She wouldnt have to worry about being bitten or chased, or finding lost friends. She would go to school, and she would learn, and it would be blissfully uneventful.

Mj on the other hand was her usual melancholy self as they both dressed for the day. She had a cast on her broken arm now, and she still was riddled with bruises and scratches from thier previous adventure. On top of it, she threw on a gray dress, which seemed to accentuate the marks.

Alicia looked just as good as she felt. She had woken up, with her long curly brown hair looking unnaturally good. She had gotten some color from the desert, and her skin glowed a light golden. She decided to throw on some makeup, which was unusual for her. She smiled and decided, while looking at herself in the mirror that today would be a good day.

"God, today is going to be a horrible day." Mj muttered ahead of Alicia as she bounded down the stairs. "I have to wear this stupid cast, and a hundred people are going to ask me a hundred annoying questions."

"Do you have a broken arm?" Alicia mocked as they reached the living room, putting on a high pitched voice. They were heading towards the key rack, where thier Aunts keys would be hanging for them to take.

"No Im just wearing this cast for fashion purposes." Mj scoffed, then turned to the rack, then turned back to Alicia, "I dont think they're there dude."

"Oh shit."

"Yeah she must be pretty pissed off still…" Mj said, bounding through the livingroom and into the kitchen, "MOM!" there was no reply. Alicia called out herself, "Aunti Di?"

No reply.

Mj stomped back into the living room, "She took the keys with her. Damn it!"

"Maybe I could call Scott.."

"That would be a good idea, if we had our phones."

"Shit. Looks like we're walking then."

"Looks like." Mj responded, as Alicia led them out of the front door, and into the direction of the school, which was just less than a mile away.

Beacon Hills was an easy enough town to live in. It was small, but not too small. Suburban, but not so much that every house looked the same. People kept to themselves generally, but other than that, Alicia wouldnt necessarily guess that there were werewolves running around behind the scenes.

It took them around fifteen minutes to crest the parking lot of Beacon Hills high, just as the first bell rang indicating them late for school. Alicia said her goodbye's to Mj and headed into her first class, walked into the back of the room and was stopped abruptly by a semi familiar face.

He had reddish blonde hair that stuck up awkwardly in the front, and striking blue green eyes. He was roughly the same height as her, and he motioned for her to take the seat next to him.

"You're Alicia right?" he asked, in a hushed voice as the teacher began a lecture in the front of the classroom. Alicia silently realized that she had no idea what class this even was.

"Yeah," she responded absently.

"I wanted to apologise for what happened..."

She dragged her eyes away from the portly teacher and back onto the kid talking to her, who she finally recognized as, "Liam?"

He nodded.

"You look way better."

"I feel better. A little weak, but better."

She smiled, "Thats good."

"I know you helped alot, and I mean, if you hadnt I could be dead right now."

The teacher stopped talking to glare at the two of them, and they stopped thier conversation to pretend and scribble down notes.

Alicia had almost forgotten the kid was about two years younger than her, and he looked like it, his figure was much smaller than Scotts. She wondered now, if they were related. He had completely different coloring, but there was something about him that reminded her of Scott. Other than the werewolf thing.

"Is Scott your brother?"

"No." he laughed.

"How do you know him?" she pressed.

"He's the Alpha. He's my Alpha." Liam whispered back behind his hand, glancing around to make sure none of his peers were listening.

Alicia nodded, pretending to understand what that even meant. This whole werewolf thing was so confusing especially since, her knowlege of them in general was still very limited. Some of the stuff didnt add up. She felt suddenly, more like a stranger to Beacon Hills than she ever had before. In reality, she didnt know half as much as she should considering the amount of time she had spent with these people since she arrived. Alicia thought it was about time she was in the loop or out of it. She needed to start asking more questions, like Mj had, afterall Alicia had proven herself to be one of the more rational thinkers of the group.

"What exactly does that mean?"

Liam scratched his head and laughed, "It means, he was the one who turned me, I guess. Or thats what I meant." he looked unsure, "He bit me. And he saved my life. More than once."

"Wait, He made you into a…" she trailed off, looking around and catching the eye of someone to her left.

"Yes, last year, like the first week of school."

"But...why?..."

"Like I said, he saved my life."

Alicia felt uneasy. Scott had turned someone into a wolf, to save thier life? Seems like a stretch. She wondered even, if you could call it life saving, if you gave them something that could change their life forever. Are you _really_ saving their life or are you giving them a new one? She kept finding out these weird tidbits of information about Scott. First the Allison thing, and now this. She was realizing slowly, that she barely knew him at all.

* * *

><p>Mj waited nonchalantly outside of the classroom she knew Alicia was in, leaning against the nearest locker and glancing around the empty hallways. She hadnt gone to her first class, too stressed or embarassed or some other excuse. Too something. She needed to relax. She needed a break. She felt the empty part of her pocket where her phone would be and sighed angrily. She hated not having her phone, it was like missing a peice of your soul. Although, she had noticed the time she spent staring into the bright little screen had been cut into halves last week.<p>

She had thrown on a scratchy gray dress and a black hoodie, despite the fact it was hot out. The longer she could hide the huge clunky cast that surrounded her forearm. The bell rang, and she clutched her backpack tighter, as she waited for Alicia to make her way out of the room.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Alicia asked, and Mj snatched her away from the boy she was with- some unimportant sophomore.

"Come on, I need a break"

"Dude we got here like not even one whole class ago-"

"Yeah I didnt go to that class either-" Mj said, leading them in a zigzag around kids through the hallway. They bounded out of some side doors that lead outside, where the cafeteria, eating area, and huge football field were.

"How are you going to graduate? How do any of you guys even get grades around here?"

"Easy, we show up for tests. Thats all that counts anyways." She was rushing them passed kids who were walking away from the field in PE uniforms.

"Where the hell are we going? I have class in like three minutes."

"We arent going to class. I hate class. Class is boring. We're going to have fun. Remember when we used to have fun?" Mj turned around as she walked, getting more excited as she lead Alicia towards the bleachers in the back of the field, where she had gone alone a thousand times before. "I feel like since you came to Cali all we've been doing is running around chasing…"

"Boys? Wolves? Magical cures?"

"All of the above. So I went ahead and talked to an old friend of mine-" they were half sprinting across the field now, and trying not to look to conspicuous while doing it. Finally, they got there and Mj put her backpack down to ruffle through it. It was nearly empty. She had always been ill prepared for everything, and she had only brought three pieces of paper to school today. She hadnt even remembered a pencil. That was half her excuse for not going to class. The other half was sitting in the front pocket that she unzipped. It was a joint, half the size of your middle finger and rolled into a perfect cylindrical shape. She had spent the last period buying the weed and rolling it in the girls restroom. Now she was giddy with excitement as she brought a lighter out and lit it, inhaling deeply.

"You know, I am actually so glad we are doing this." Alicia set her own backpack down with a clunk. "I didnt even realize we hadn't smoked weed in like two weeks."

"I realized," Mj said, passing the joint to Alicia and exhaling a cloud of smoke. "I fuckin hate school." She leaned casually against a post, and watched as some lacrosse players gathered in the distance, full uniform. They were on the otherside of the field, doing some sports maneuver that made them run back and forth over a small space. She had forgotten practice was 2nd period. Alicia was watching them too. She passed the joint back to Mj.

"I met Liam finally."

"Thats who that little kid was."

She nodded, "He said something weird."

Mj took a long drag, "Whaddhesay?" she asked through a cough.

"That Scott _turned him to save his life_." Alicia grabbed the joint from Mj's outstretched hand.

Mj shrugged, "Seems like something Scott would do."

"But like...How? Why? I dont know. It just got me to thinking…" Mj was still watching the Lacrosse players. They were getting closer, they were doing suicide runs, and gaining yards every time. Eventually they would have to run all the way across the field, hit the bleachers, then go back. She wondered if Scott and Stiles were out there now, and guessed yes. Alicia was still talking, "...we dont really know them at all. We dont even really know jack shit about the whole werewolf thing. I mean, I dont, you at least got a bit of information from the Coyote bitch."

"I dont know. I mean, werewolves can heal. Maybe he was like horribly injured-"

"So he bit him? I mean, Ive only even known werewolves exist for like two weeks, and I can already tell being a wolf isnt exactly a walk in the park"

Mj was already high, and the joint was only halfway gone. She reveled in the feeling. For the first time since last week she didnt feel like the weight of the world was crushing her.

"Fuck, I'd do it."

Alicia shook her head, "So people can try to hunt and kill you?"

"It wouldnt matter so much if I was a baddass, buttkickin' wolf bitch." She was only half joking. Deep down, Mj was terrified of them. It was a scary concept, having someone higher on the foodchain than you, having something live nextdoor that you know could tear you apart.

"Dude, you realize that all of that horrible shit you thought the police were covering up, was all because werewolves live in Beacon Hills? I mean, its not a coincidence. Its probably not a coincidence that all those people died. I mean, kids died. Kids that went here. Because of werewolves."

She brought up a good point. Mj hadnt even thought of it that way. It was entirely true despite what she wanted to believe. Werewolves _were _dangerous, she had experienced that firsthand. "Ive said this before, and I will say this again. Scott's hiding _something . _Nobody can be that good. I mean, maybe this is it. Maybe his flaw is turning people into werewolves." she paused. The lacross team was halfway across the field now, and thier joint was down to the end. "Thats a fucking terrifying flaw though."

"Yeah. And Liam's just a kid."

"Maybe you should talk to him about it." Mj shrugged, and put the butt of the joint out on the end of her boot.

"Maybe." Alicia agreed. Mj led her around to the other side of the bleachers, "Have you talked to any of them since friday?" she asked her now that she realized she hadnt.

It had been a gruellingly long weekend, and especially so- since she had woken up Saturday morning in a hospital bed. She was, of course, livid, because she had repeated her disdain for doctors to Scott and the rest of them, but they hadnt listened. On top of it, her mom had to pick her up, because Alicia had chosen that day to sleep through. In summary, she had had a shitty week, a shitty weekend, and was determined to make today, the least shitty of them all.

"I havent seen them since I've been here." Alicia said, "But we have a class with them next I think-"

"Yeah and I have first period with Mj too." Scott said, from behind them, "But you weren't there." He stood cross armed behind them, in full Lacrosse attire, the long white stick hung at his leg haphazardly. Alicia gave him goo goo eyes from next to her. Mj noticed how much bigger he looked wearing the uniform, with the pads and plastic pieces, he looked much more the man and less the teenage boy.

"You know, I needed a break from class today."

"We havent been to school in like a week-" Scott said, and Mj shrugged.

Stiles was running across the field a few yards behind Scott, and looked to be having a hard time, breathing heavily and waving as he half stumbled in his far too large looking uniform. Mj kept her eyes off of him. She didnt want to think about what they had done in the desert, but it was all she could think about. That, and the sound of his voice as he spoke of Malia. She kept her eyes trained to the sky, which was relatively easy since she was still pretty high, and only half paying attention. When he finally reached them, he coughed and sucked in air.

"I called you." Scott said to Alicia, "A few times." he added in an unsure tone. It was awkward, the whole situation was awkward. Mj felt like she could cut the tension with a knife.

"My Aunt took our phones." Alicia said, also trying to avoid eye contact, she focused on the ground.

"What's up with you guys?" Stiles asked looking at both of them in turn.

"Nothing...Just...here. I guess." Alicia said, still inspecting Scott's cleats.

He sniffed the air strangely, and made a face, "Were you guys smoking weed just now?"

"What? No!" Alicia said, Just as Mj began to answer, "Yeah totally." They glanced at eachother than back at the boys, who were shaking thier heads disapprovingly.

Mj scoffed, "So what? You going to tell your dad?" it came out sounding worse than she had expected.

"No Im not going to tell my dad. Im going to tell you that it probably isnt a very good idea to get high on our first day back since-"

"Well, I decided Im not going to classes today anyways."

"Then why come to school Mj? Seems pointless. And stupid." he said rolling his eyes.

"Shut up Stiles." Mj was tired of his fatherly attitude. Stiles shook his head and scowled throwing his arms up in the air dramatically. "How's Derek?"

"He's alot better. And you?"

"Niether here nor there."

Scott was tightlipped, still standing cross armed, studying Alicia stoically, finally he spoke, "Is everything okay?"

"MCCALL! STILINSKI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?!" The coach called across the yard.

Alicia shifted her weight nervously, "Im fine." she said, "You should get back."

Scott took a step towards her, "I really want to talk to you."

"HELLO?! I NEED MY CAPTAIN.."

Mj began to pull Alicia in the other direction. She couldnt stand the way Stiles was looking at her, it was similar to the way he had looked at her when they were alone last week. It drove her crazy, and at the same time, made her heart thump faster in her chest.

Scott looked from the coach to Alicia, "Lunch?" He asked quickly.

Alicia nodded back, and her and Mj left the field, Mj muttering as she pulled Alicia on, "Im not too keen on Scott, but he sure does fill out that uniform nicely."

"Back off!" Alicia warned.

"I can still hear you!" Scott yelled, halfway across the field from them.

Alicia laughed.

"Shit. Forgot about that." Mj said, glancing back before picking up their pace.


	24. Chapter 21: Talking

Alicia was still pretty high by the time the lunch bell rang and she picked up her backpack and headed to the cafeteria. It was bright outside, and this was the first time she had seen BHH so packed full of kids. She guessed, she had never stayed in school long enough for Lunch before today. It was surreal. She remembered what high school was like, suddenly, when she was walking around and not recognizing any faces. She was new, and alone. She didnt see Mj or Scott or Stiles anywhere.

There was a line for food in the Cafeteria area, so she skipped eating despite the grumble in her stomach. The students at BHH were much the same as they were on the east coast. By now, they had all broken up into their cliques, which housed students of all sorts of interests, dressed relatively similar. She wondered which one of these groups Mj had been in, or if she had always wandered alone.

Alicia tried not to look at anyone directly as she walked into the quad area of the school, a grassy place with benches and such for students to sit on. She took a seat, in the shade. The sun was beating overhead and she resented her jeans whenever she was in the heat. Alicia was trying to figure out how she would find Scott amongst all these teenagers, when he sat down next to her.

He looked different without his uniform on, more like himself. He sat leaning forward on the bench and leaned onto his knees, folding his hands together and looking up at ALicia, a lock of brown hair fell over one eye, and his forehead wrinkled a bit. The collar if his shirt dipped down into a V and the top of his chest was visible beneath, she had to try hard not look at it, and focus on what she wanted to talk about. She always found herself distracted by how attracted she was to him, it made her nervous as hell.

"You look good today." he said, to make a bad situation worse.

"Thanks. You look good too" she said, a little too quickly, making him smile crookedly in that way he does, showing off his straight white teeth. She tried to focus on anything but his smile. She tried to remember that she needed to ask him serious questions. Like why he had turned Liam, or what happened to the desert wolf, or what exactly was going on between them. But the way he smiled made her head go blank, and her insides melt.

When he spoke, she somehow snapped out of her funk. "I know we didnt really get to finish talking in the car last week, and I know its been hectic and crazy and everything can be hard to understand. I dont even know how the hell we made it through. But, Im glad you were there."

Alicia smiled back at him, and he leaned back on the bench. She realized how close he was sitting then, his hand just centimeters away from her own.

"I think Im glad I was there too. Minus all the almost dying stuff."

His hand touched hers then, first the tips then the whole thing, on top of her own. His hand was rough and warm and big. She wanted so badly to loop her fingers through his own, but instead she pulled her hand out from under his, reluctantly. "Theres some things I wanted to talk to you about too." She said clearing her throat.

"Look, about Allison-"

"Not about Allison."

"Oh." He looked worried. She hated that look, she felt like she had seen it a thousand times. Like he was in a constant state of worry. It must be horrible. Alicia was torn, it was so much harder to talk to him now that he was sitting in front of her. She faced forward, and pretended to be overly interested in a couple making out across the quad. The problem with what she wanted to say, was that it wasnt so much words as much as it was a feeling. Some feelings are hard to put into words, and it wasnt like she had the most eclectic vocabulary. So when she did speak it came out more in a stream of consciousness, a jumble of unconnected thought.

"Scott, I keep hearing this different stuff." he frowned, "And I mean, I like you, and you know that. I just, theres something weird. Other than the whole werewolf thing, which only sort of bothers me- because to be honest I dont know much about it. Sometimes I feel like I get you, and other times I feel like theres so much I dont get about you that I can't begin to fathom how we ended up where we are now. The murders over the past few years, biting liam, Its hard to put into words-"

"I dont want to be secretive or-"

She inturrupted him, "I didnt say you were trying to keep secrets, I know its not that-"

"Theres so much-"

They were talking over eachother. Both of them blushing and avoiding eye contact. "I dont need your life story. I just-"

"...anything you want."

They both stopped. Then he said, laughing a bit, "This conversation is just getting more confusing."

"Go ahead." Alicia said, smiling back.

"If this- us- whatever this is- is going to be something, then I want to be honest with you. Anything you want to know about, Im willing to talk about. And anything you dont want to be apart of, you dont have too."

"Im not saying that-"

"I know. But its something I want you to think about. Theres people that want werewolves dead- people that want me dead. I want nothing more than to keep you safe, to keep everyone safe, but before we do whatever we are doing, you have to make the decision that this is what you want."

She coughed, to fill up the silence before going on. "Did Liam get that choice?"

He winced, "He didnt." She could tell it was a sore spot for him.

"Did you?"

"No." He replied his face stoic. She placed her hand back into his own, and he laced his fingers through hers before going on. "Let me tell you how it happened…"

* * *

><p>Mj's locker was a mess. It contained all of her books, an assortment of art supplies, 500,000 crinkled or ripped sheets of paper, and an old sandwich that she had somehow lodged so far into the back that it was now impossible to find, but still <em>very <em>possible to smell. She hadnt cleaned it since last semester, and it had been permeating all summer, so that when she opened it today a pile of papers and ink and pencils and fell over her feet, and a blast of old baloney filled her nostrils.

She kicked some of the papers away, not bothering to pick anything up, and grabbed a sketchbook, before stuffing her backpack into the locker and slamming her back against it so it would shut. When she stepped away, it swung back open.

She slammed it shut again.

She spotted Stiles wandering down the hallway, and huffed angrily. She prayed he would keep walking-or not see her.

The locker flew open once more.

She tried to hit it harder.

"Maybe if you took some stuff out instead of stuffing stuff in…" Stiles said, appearing next to her.

"I feel like I heard you say that inside my head before you even said it." she rolled her eyes and pulled her backpack out again, papers flew out with it, and Stiles began to scramble to pick them up and shove them back in the locker.

"Does this mean we are finishing eachothers sentences?"

"No it means you're predictable." She slammed the locker shut, and this time for some reason, it stuck. Mj turned her back to Stiles and started to walk swiftly down the hallway the way he had come.

He jogged to keep up with her "What are you doing for lunch?"

"Eating, drawing-ignoring you." He looked cute, cuter than he had recently, now that he had caught up on his sleep. His hair stuck up cutely in the front and his face was back to its normal pale complexion. She tried not to think of the way his lips felt against hers, the way it had felt when he had pushed her down into the sand and slid a hand up her shirt-

"Maybe I could sit with you-"

"Theres no room at the table." she said quickly, trying to nudge him off. She realized she was being mean, but it was the only way she could communicate her frustration to him without actually having to tell him anything.

"You havent even sat down yet."

"Theres a seating arrangement."

He put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. They had only made it halfway through the hallway, but it was relatively empty now that the students had made it outside.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Yes. No. Kind of." she rubbed her temples, "I dont know Stiles."

"Is it about what happened last week in-"

"Yes. Yes its about that." Mj was tired of beating around the bush. "Look, I know you have a girlfriend, and I know you cant do" she motioned to both of them, "_this._ Right now and-"

It was his turn to sigh now, "You talked to Alicia, Im guessing."

"Shes my best friend, if you didnt think she would tell me than that's on you. But I mean, I get it, you're a teenage boy, you're girlfriend was not there, I threw myself at you-"

"Thats not it at all Mj, I just-" she was trying not to look into his eyes. Big and soft and brown, she knew she would get lost in those, so she focused on the figure heading towards her, a female with long legs and a short skirt. She had long red hair that fell down in curls and framed her face.

"I like you." she huffed, "And Im not trying to make this situation worse-"

"I like you too, " he said quickly before she could finish. The girl who was walking was level with them now, and Mj recognized her as Lydia Martin. Popular, smart and sexy, and one of Scott and Stiles' female accomplices. She had seen them around campus together, and Mj couldnt help but wonder what Lydia was hiding behind that pretty face.

"Stiles." She said formally, stopping and standing pin straight, while Mj slumped next to her.

Mj cleared her throat.

Lydia continued to look at Stiles. Ignoring Mj completely.

"Lydia. This is Mj-" he said.

She spoke over him, "I cant find Scott anywhere, but I'm having a party tomorrow at the lake house and I was hoping you guys would come."

"Oh- uh...yeah. Ofcourse we'll come." He nodded.

"You should bring MALIA" she said the girls name slowly, accentuating the syllables and glancing sideways at Mj. "I havent seen her lately _either_." she tilted her head to question Stiles.

Mj smiled, "I think this is my queue-" She turned away from the two to walk in the opposite direction.

"Oh come on Mj-" Stiles called at her back.

She waved a hand as she stepped out of the doors to the school and into the lunch area.


	25. Chapter 22: Party: Part 1

It took Alicia the whole next day to convince Mj to come to the party. Her cousin was adamant in her obsitinance and need to be as far away from social situations as possible, and Alicia, still to nervous to attend on her own felt the complete opposite. After long hours of pleads, she got her cousin to agree and she found herself getting ready after school in the cramped room they both shared. There was still the issue of getting out of the house when Stiles and Scott came to pick them up that they had to address, but Mj seemed not to be worried.

"Im going to get drunk." She said in a huff as she pulled a small black dress over her head.

"Good. You need it." Alicia responded as she straightened her hair in the mirror. "You've been annoyingly belligerent."

"Do I have to come?" She whined again.

"Yes." Alicia replied. "Just stop being so wrapped up in your self pity and give me one night Mj."

"Jesus, Fine." She said, beginging to put eyeliner on. "No need to be a bitch about it."

"Well, you havent even asked about what Scott said yesterday." She had about had it with her cousin's constant complaining. She was determined that both of them have a good time tonight. That both of them could start acting like normal teenagers. Just let loose.

"How'd that go?" her tone was lighter, to Alicia's surpise, and she looked like she tried to get in a bit of a better mood, for her sake.

"Well he told me about when he was turned, and when he turned Liam." Alicia paused to make a face in the mirror and flip her hair around.

"And…"

"I mean, to sum it up, it seems like he didnt ask for any of this. Like it was just thrown at him and he's just as lost as any of us. What really bothered him was how being, you know, a wolf and stuff, affects people around him. He wanted me to think about that."

"Did you?" Mj had successfully covered her eyes in dark colors and was now pulling up her already short dress to make it shorter.

"Fuck." Alicia said, "Yes and no. I dont know how I feel about it. I mean obviously I dont want to be in danger but I trust him to keep me safe-"

Mj shot her a look that read something like ' are you kidding me'

"Or at least try his best too."

"Thats better." Mj slipped her feet into strappy heels and Alicia wore tennis shoes. She didnt walk well or wear heels often, and decided she would choose comfort over attempted sexiness. She had worn tight jeans and one of her fancier low cut blouses. Next to Mj she looked conservative, but no less attractive. Her hair was much longer when straight and fell down to her lower back.

"I dont know. But Im thinking Im already in too deep to get out now."

"Then go for it." Mj said, looking at her now.

"I'm thinking I will." Alicia finished, taking one last look at herself before turning away from the mirror. "Now, how are we getting out of here?"

Mj put her blonde hair in a bun on top of her head and slipped her heels off, "This is the fun part."

Alicia grabbed her purse and her phone, there was a text from Scott saying they were down the street. She was equal parts nervous and excited. She wondered if the parties would be different here than they were on the east coast but doubted it. Teenagers were teenagers. Alicia followed Mj down the hall and to the top of the stairs. They could see the front door from where they stood on the landing. Mj turned to her and began to whisper, "We're going to run out the front door and keep running."

Alicia rolled her eyes, "Thats the stupidest plan Ive ever heard." she whispered back "We're going to get caught!"

"Ofcourse we will! But she wont be able to do anything until we're already back-" She was smiling cheesily.

"Mj you said you had this part handled"

"I do. I did. I am. Its handled." She said shrugging.

Alicia rolled her eyes again, and Mj began to run. Alicia stayed right on her heels, and they burst out of the front door, Alicia's aunt yelling at thier backs, Mj looked back at Alicia with a smile and a wink and they ran farther down the block, turning the corner and stopping to catch their breath.

"Piece...of…..cake…" Mj said inbetween gulps of breath, as she slipped on her high heels.

"See you tell it." Alicia mumbled, "Next time, Im getting us out."

Stiles' jeep pulled up next to them instantaneously, and Alicia and Mj hopped in the back, as Stiles and Scott still occupied the front.

"Smooth, back there." Stiles said sarcastically as he began to take them in the direction of Lydia's house.

Alicia ignored the comment and instead questioned them, "So are you sure she's going to be okay with us coming or…?"

Scott turned around in his seat to face her, "Oh not at all." he said, smiling.

"You're not sure?"

"No Im sure she is not okay with it." Scott said, "I just dont care. She'll get over it."

"Promising…" Mj muttered looking out the window.

"Lydia would like you guys. She just needs to give you a chance."

"So forcing her to let us into her party seemed like the best way to introduce us right?"Mj chimed in from the back.

"Lydia is one of my best friends. And if we're all going to hang out- or whatever- than I want you all to know eachother at least okay?" Scott sounded serious all of the sudden, and forceful. Alicia found herself liking him more when he took control of situations.

"Lydia is one of your best friends? Really?" Stiles asked shooting Scott a look.

"Will you guys just try and have fun!" Scott said, throwing his arms up in a exasperation.

"Okay Okay." Alicia agreed, giggling.

"Yeah whatever." Mj huffed.

They had to go through a windey road, uphill (then back down again) to get to the house that Lydia's party was in, on the lake. It was out of town, through the woods that encircled Beacon Hills and on the bottom of a valley. The house itself was large and well lit, two stories with a huge outdoor balcony on the lake that was filled to the brim with people. There were cars parked all around the house in various locations, and people were still flooding in in twos and threes through the front door. Stiles parked in the front and Mj and Alicia hopped out of the Jeep together, Alicia checking herself once more in the reflection of the window before joining the three in step towards the party.

When she stepped between Scott and Mj, Scott snaked his arm around her waist, he bent down a bit to whisper in her ear, "You look amazing tonight." His breath tickled her neck, and she did her best not to blush too hard as they walked into the front door of the party.

Alicia was surprised by the amount of people there, paractically the whole high school packed into the house. There were people dancing to loud rap music, girls squeezed into tiny dresses and guys dry humping them from behind. They passed the kitchen, where there were about 40 different colored bottles of liquor on the counter and a crowd of teens trying to pour some.

"Im gunna grab a drink- catch you guys later!" Mj said, waving and slipping away before anyone could protest. They were squeezing through the hallway, and there were even more people around the farther they walked into the house, before pushing finally out of the back door and onto the balcony.

"I could barely breathe inthat hallway,so many people. I thought I would choke to death before making it out here." Stiles said, clapping a hand onto Scott and Alicia's backs. "Are there even that many kids at BHH?"

Scott shrugged, smiling at Stiles awkwardly and opening his mouth to talk, but Stiles started talking again before he began, "Lemme guess, you want to be alone?" He sighed, "Yeah okay, just be safe you two." he winked before ducking back inside and leaving them on the deck overlooking the water.

There were a few other couples around them, making out or gazing upwards at the sky. This far away from town, there were stars, hundreds and thousands, shining down at them. But Alicia couldnt focus on the people or the stars or the lake. She only had eyes for Scott who had somehow squeezed himself into the tightest pants he could find for their pseudo-party-date-thing (or at least, thats what Alicia had called it in her head while getting ready). He had another v neck on, black, with a pocket that was a different print. She wished she could climb into it and hear the steady pound of his heart against her cheek.

"Ive been thinking about what we talked about yesterday." He let go of her hand and lead her to the rail of the balcony. The view was breathtaking, there were hills covered in trees surrounding the small lake, and the moon's reflection rippled only slightly in the still water. It smelled fresh and lovely, and Scott was close enough to her that their arms touched on the rail they were leaning on.

"And…?"

"And I think Im okay with it. The whole craziness thing that comes with being your friend."

He was watching her watch the lake. "Are you sure? I dont think Im even okay with it…"

"You know what I mean Scott."

"I know what you mean but, I want to make sure you mean it"

She turned to face him, so they were inches apart, she was so much shorter than him, she looked like a child in comparison. "Im sure." It was romantic, despite the loud beating music coming from just inside, or the drunk people that surrounded them.

"Then come here-" he said, and wrapped his arms around her waist before kissing her, finally. This time, it felt different, it wasnt the same kind of kiss she had gotten from Scott earlier. It didnt come from pent up teen passion, or the heat of the moment, or stress or whatever terms they had kissed under before. It felt more genuine than that, like he had been saving it somewhere for this moment. It was gentle and soft, like the moonlight that twinkled in the corner of his eyes when they pulled apart, his hands still lingering on her waist, touching her only slightly. He made her want to grab him and kiss him harder, to make him hold her tighter, to move his hands downwards, off the small of her back, and into more dangerous territory.

* * *

><p>Mj hadnt left the kitchen since they got to the party almost an hour ago, and she was actually having fun. This was her very first high school party that her mom also didnt attend, and there were all of the sudden, people surrounding her and showering her with compliments. She was becoming something of a sensation, with her ability to both chug alcohol and pour it decently (she had learned how to pour a beer into a cup as a child, for her father, and now she was using the skill to her advantage, one hand constantly on a keg hose and the other pouring shots down her throat). She was proud of herself. People were cheering her on, and she was making them laugh and clap her on the back. She had been approached by multiple sloshing thier beers down her front and making stupid remarks about how great her boobs with. In reply, she would only fill their cups halfway, bending over just a little too much as she did.<p>

The next person in line popped up, and she smiled toothily without looking up.

"Need me to pour you hun?" she asked, grabbing a red cup and pressing the nozzle on the keg tap.

"Look at you all sociable."

She recognized the voice immediately, and rolled her eyes as she handed Stiles the cup.

"Ive been drinking."

"You called me hun." he looked proud of himself.

She smiled, "...Ive been drinking." she said again, then, she looked around and found a bottle of tequila at her feet. She picked it up, and stepped out of the kitchen and into the crowded hall next to Stiles.

"Wanna take shots?" she asked. It was louder in the hall, and the music seemed to rattle her bones under her skin. Her heart took pace with the beat of the bass, a steady BOoM Boom Boom.

"What?" Stiles said, leaning inwards, glancing momentarily at the top of her breasts pushing out of her shirt, then back at her face.

"ShHOTS?" She yelled over the music, "DO you WAnt To take a Shot?"

"Sure." he yelled back, and she grabbed his hand, leading him from the inner dense part of the party towards the outside. They inched down the hallway, and as they did, she held her glass above her head, trying not to slosh it too much as Stiles yelled into her ear.

"Have you been having fun?" he asked, closer than they would usually talk, she could feel his breath hot against her ear.

"Yeah totally! I mean, I normally hate people you know, but theres something about really loud music and lots of liquor that makes them more bearable." she yelled back, and he squeezed her hand a bit tighter as they passed a particularly rowdy group of teens cheersing and fist bumping.

"Who knew you would be the life of the party?"

"Im the life of my own party, why not share it with the world? Besides, I find myself a sort of connoisseur of hard liquor." she shook the large bottle of tequila

He laughed, "Tequila is the classiest of choices."

"How about you? Having fun?"

"Yeah, its great." he sounded like it was less than great. His mind was elsewhere, at least momentarily. They were at the door that lead outside, and he had stopped in his tracks. Mj put her hand on the door handle. "Wait." he said solemnly, and she looked at the window to see who had forced that look on his face.

She saw a pair of glowing blue eyes looking back at her. Glowing from a familiar, yet slightly different looking, face.

"Malia?" Mj said, rasing an eyebrow and taking her hand out from Stiles'. She moved to open the door again.

"Wait." Stiles was looking at her strangely, "Somethings not right…"


	26. Chapter 22: Party: Part 2

Alicia was staring tentatively at the writhing mass of bodies that made up the large living room. There was music playing, deep pounding bass lines that reverberated inside her head, that somehow made the drink she had had earlier hit her harder. Scott stood next to her, surveying the crowd himself, and glancing at Alicia out of the corner of his eye. He leaned into her, brushed a curly brown lock of hair behind her ear and said the four words Alicia had been hoping he wouldnt ask her all night.

"Do you wanna dance?"

She smiled sheepishly, "I dont dance-" she said quickly, as the music surged all around them.

"Oh come on! Neither do I," he wrapped his hand around hers again, and pulled her forwards, where all their peers were grinding and bumping. The normal lights in the living room were off and in their place there were strange blue and green flashing ones, they made everything seem less real. The kids of BHH were rubbing against each other all around them, some slower than others. The blue lights made their skin the same color, and Alicia was unintentionally reminded of the ocean during a storm, a crashing and swaying of various intensities.

Scott lead them towards a small gap in the middle, and Alicia tried not to stare at the two scantily clad lesbians dancing centimeters apart. Scott on the other hand, seemed to only have eyes for her, she could feel them on her, practically penetrating her skin, as he placed a palm on her waist and brought her in closer to him, so her breasts pushed against her chest. His grip was firm but not hard as they began to move to the beat of the music, the tone winding down a bit, but still not slow.

She was so close to him, she could feel his heart against her skin, a steady strong beat that inside her own head was louder than the pounding bassline. She was less nervous now, and let some primal instinct take over her while she danced. Alicia turned around so her back was to him, and his hands followed her, sliding around so they were now on the front of her waist. She moved her hips slowly against his own, letting her head fall back into the crook of his neck as his mouth found her own neck. A soft wet kiss, that turned her on instantly was placed there, and she felt she might burst in that moment as his hands slid back and squeezed her backside before flipping her around again so they were face to face once more.

He kissed her hungrily on the dancefloor, and she kissed him back, letting her tongue slip into his mouth timidly at first, but he squeezed her tighter, and she gave in, kissing him back just as passionately. For that moment, she couldnt tell who was touching who, or who's mouth was whose. She wanted to sink into him completely, she wanted to lead him more than she had ever wanted anyone.

Then it was over all at once, as a doe eyed redhead pushed them apart forcefully, glaring at both of them in turn. She was wearing a light pink dress that accentuated her perfect procelain skin, her lips, lined in red were moving quickly, and her eyes looked glossy and far away. Alicia couldnt hear a word she was saying, but Scott seemed to know what was happening immediately, and he led them both from the center of the crowd slowly, edging towards a door that would lead them outside to the patio.

When they finally got out of the living room and away from the bulk of the people, Scott turned around to face both of them.

"Where is Stiles?" He asked, a worried look painted on his face.

"I saw him with that Mj girl earlier-" the redhead said, still looking around the room with her big empty eyes.

"Whats going on?" Alicia said trying to look where the girl was looking but seeing nothing but more bodies.

"Lydia…has a bad feeling…" Scott said, putting a hand through his thick messy hair.

"Tell her to go to the bathroom-"

Lydia rolled her eyes, "Not that kind of feeling."

Alicia looked from one of them to the other, still not catching on to what they were trying to say, "Well, Im sure he's fine-"

"Shes a Banshee-" Scott blurted out, to Lydia's dismay. She shot him a disapproving look.

"A what?" Alicia raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter! We just need to find-" she stopped mid sentence to stare at Scott strangely, tilting her head, and letting her eyes get bigger somehow, "-something's happening." she said, her voice shaky.

"Lydia, can you tell me where?" Scott was determined, he put a hand on her shoulder and bent so they were face to face.

They were by the sliding glass door that lead to the cool night air.

Alicia glanced outside of it, and saw, to her dismay, Stiles, Mj and Malia on the deck. Malia facing the two humans with glowing eyes. Stiles was talking to her, standing between her and Mj and she was still advancing.

"Uhh...Think its got something to do with Malia and Stiles…?"

The three teens all pressed thier faces against the window to see the display outside. Alicia attempted to tug at the sliding door, but it was locked, or broken. It didnt budge.

"Its stuck." She said frantically, looking back at Lydia, who pointed to the otherside of the house, through the kitchen and hallway. It was absolutely congested with people.

"We can go out the other way-" Lydia suggested

"We dont have time, look at all those people!" Alicia kept her eyes outside, they were yelling now, Malia had her claws out, she looked livid. Her face was twisted and angry, she looked like the Desert Wolf had when she was fighting Scott.

"I can break it-"

"This is my grandmothers house, Scott."

"And thats my best friend out there!" Scott's eyes were glowing, his fists clenched.

Alicia was siding with Lydia on this one, as much as she hated to say it, "Theres also 100 drunk teenagers in here-" Scott calmed down when she spoke, and his eyes faded back to their normal color. "Breaking an entire glass door is asking for an accident."

Alicia began pushing her way to the other side of the house, "We can make it, we just have to be fast." she said, and Scott pushed his way in front of her as Lydia fell behind.

* * *

><p>Mj stood behind Stiles, still clutching the bottle of tequila they had brought in, in her casted arm. She shivered a bit, it was cold here by the lake, and she was wearing close to nothing. Goosebumps appeared on her skin, and Stiles took a step backwards as Malia took one forwards. She looked crazed, angrier than ever, and dirty. Her hair was matted and knotty in the back and she was snarling angrily at them through glowing blue eyes.<p>

Stiles was trying to talk to her softly, but she was saying nothing. Mj couldnt help but feel like she was intruding on some sort of private conversation. Malia's claws were out and pointed at them.

"You-You did this." She said finally, looking at both of them, "You and Scott."

"Malia, I dont know what you're talking about. We tried looking for you-" Stiles cooed, taking a step forward now, "You disappeared. When you left that night-"  
>"I left alone. I should have had my pack with me. You should have been behind-" Malia held out a shaky hand.<br>"We followed you Malia. I swear we followed you but-"

"But you were too late!" She said, erratically, "And then you _**killed**_ her" she half sobbed,"I didnt even get to meet her and you-"

"We didnt kill anyone." Mj said finally, cracking open the bottle of tequila and taking a swig. She could see the uneasiness in Malia's demeanor. She had come here for something, and it wasnt Stiles. She had come to confront them, she had come for _revenge._

"Dont. Lie. To. Me." she said through a growl, her eyes finally resting on Mj, "You think I dont know you've been sleeping with Stiles?" there were tears in her eyes.

"I know you dont know, because I havent." Mj took another swig, as Malia took a swift step forward, pushing Stiles down with a swift motion, so she was face to face with Mj.

"Malia, I-" Stiles started to say, but was quickly shut up by a swift backhand to the face by Malia. She left a long thin scratch on one cheek, Stiles looked taken aback.

"Dont talk to me Stiles! Nothing you say will make a difference. I believed you- I trusted-loved-whatever." he looked genuinely hurt, like something inside him had sunk, "and you repay me by killing my own mother?"

"We didnt kill-" Mj began again, and Malia yelled the next part.

"Ofcourse you didnt." she was still fuming, "You're weak. Both of you."

Mj clutched the glass bottle in her hand tighter, praying silently that her broken arm would have the strength to swing upwards and hit Malia where she stood. She weighed out thier options. She could hit her and run, hoping Stiles would follow, but looking at the broken way he followed her with his eyes, probably wouldnt happen. Or she could somehow scoop him up and urge him with her. Or she could leave him. It was a hard decision. She knew, if he were in her place, he would never leave her to die. And she decided that she felt the same way as she saw him scramble back onto his feet.

Mj swung, as Malia stepped forward again, the bottle flew from her hand mid air, missing Malia completely and plopping uselessly in the lake.

"Oh shit." Mj said, backing up as Malia advanced with a smile. To her releif, Malia was inturrupted by a familiar voice, coming from the doorway that led into the house.

Scott, stood silhouetted against the flashing blue green lights coming from inside. And Mj felt a wave of relief fall over her, as he stepped onto the deck, Alicia and Lydia at his heels.


	27. Ch 22: Party: Part 3

Alicia got behind Scott when they walked out of the door, watching his figure change ever so slightly as he shifted into his own wolf form. His eyes glowing red, and his claws extended he spoke in a gruff only half human voice.

"Malia. Stop." was all that came out. And she tensed visibly where she stood, obviously not anticipating a confrontation with the alpha this quickly. "You dont want to do this," he sounded more like himself when he said that. Lydia stood on the other side of Alicia, watching the scene with an emotionless face. She wondered what the significance of being a banshee was, she had heard of them, from somewhere, but it was really MJ who reigned surpeme when it came to useless supernatural trivia.

"You betrayed me." Malia said, frantically.

"We didnt do anything. You left."

"My mother came to Beacon Hills to find me and you killed her!" she yelled, her face contorting more the more she did so. Her face was hairy at the edges, and she had thick downwards pointing lines in her brows that made her look less human and more wolf than ever.

"You're mom came here to kill me." Scott said, his voice softer, pleading. He stepped towards Malia, but made sure to keep Lydia and Alicia behind him. "We stopped her and-"

"And cut her in half?" She stammered

"What?!" Lydia eyed Scott with a look of disgust.

"I didnt. We didnt." Scott replied, glancing at Lydia and then Malia. "When she left the Deaton's she was fine-"

Malia was pacing angrily, like her mother had in the cave. She looked like a trapped animal, she didnt know what to do, and that much was obvious. Conflicted between what she had been told and what was the truth. Alicia felt bad for her, it would be horrible to know your mother died in such a horrific way, and to not know the truth.

"You gotta believe us…" Stiles said, a hand covering the cut across his face. Blood seeped out of the wound in droplets.

"I dont gotta do anything." She responded, spitting as she did so.

"Lets just talk this-"

"No. We will not talk this through." She said, looking at every one of them in the eyes.

"You cant win, Malia." Lydia said, still looking far away.

Malia considered this thought, and sized Scott up, looking him up and then down and then up again. She huffed, "When you first came into my life, I thought you had ruined it, then-" she glanced back at Stiles, "I thought you had made it worthwhile," she turned back to Scott, "Now I see I was right to begin with." She began walking off the deck, "Watch your back." she said then added before she slid out the door, "All of you."

Alicia raised her eyebrows and watched as she disappeared into the crowd.

"Sounds promising." Stiles muttered as he wiped the blood off his face.

"What the hell just happened?" Scott asked as they stepped closer to the group.

"I lost a whole bottle of tequila." Mj said, mournfully looking at the lake.

"We cant just let her go-" Lydia was staring at the spot that Malia had been standing in.

"We have to. For now." Stiles replied.

"Well, like you said, she cant win. Maybe she will give up?" Alicia didnt believe her own suggestion but figured it was worth a try.

"I seem to recall her trying to kill us for taking a doll from her sister's room like six months ago." Lydia responded. "Im thinking killing her mom wont go over any better."

Mj cleared her throat, "You were right though, she cant win. Scott's an alpha. That counts as something..."

"She's not strong enough to beat an alpha _right now_." Stiles said definitively, but still with a shade of doubt over his voice.

Alicia let her gaze follow to where Scott's was, upwards, towards the sky, where the moon hung at half mast, taunting them. They sat in silence for a moment before Alicia voiced the concern that was haunting all their minds, "And when would she be strong enough?"

Lydia tilted her head the tiniest bit, her big green eyes reflecting the large circular half moon heavily, "When the full moon comes."

"And this time, we'll be ready." Scott said surely.


	28. Chapter 23: Wolfsbane

Alicia rolled out of bed the next day to the sound of Mj throwing up in the bathroom. She rolled her eyes and tried to go over the events of last night one by one in her mind. She had almost had the most perfect night of her life, despite the life threatening words of the crazy coyote girl. She kept going back to her moment of the dancefloor with Scott, the feeling of his hands on her, the malleable passion in the air, the sound of his voice telling her to kiss him. It made her indescribably ecstatic. She wanted to scream the details of the night at her cousin as she wandered into the bedroom looking pale and half dead.

"So last night…" she started, and her cousin held up a hand to stop her. She stood completely still for a moment, with a hand over her mouth, looking queasy. "If you're going to barf go back into the bathroom."

Mj composed herself after a second, and laid down on the bed rigidly, "False alarm." she breathed, shutting her eyes tight.

Alicia began picking out her clothes for the day, before her shower. "Anyways, last night was...crazy. Awesome. Scott and I talked about us."

"And…?"

"And we kissed again. And we danced." Alicia had never heard anything as ridiculously teenagery come out of her mouth, but she couldnt resist hiding her excitement. "I dont know why I even questioned going for him in the first place. I feel like an idiot now."

"I didnt know you could dance."

"I cant." she said, grabbing her clean towel, "It was less like a dance and more like…"

"Dry humping?"

"Did you see us?"

Mj rolled over, "Everyone on that dance floor was dry humping. It was like a mormon orgy out there."

"Jesus Mj," Alicia said through a smile.

"Im still sort of drunk."

"No shit." Alicia began heading for the bathroom, "You just going to lay there all day or are you going to school? Scotts giving me a ride today so I can't walk with you…" she added before heading into the bathroom and turning the shower on. She couldnt hear Mj's reply over the sound of running water. She was too wrapped up in herself to think about her right now. She had kissed the boy of her dreams last night _and now it meant something more than just friendship_. Just hearing herself think those words made her whole body tingle.

But then she was reminded of the incident with Malia, and grounded all at once. Would she go back to school now that she was back? What did that mean for them? What exactly happens when she is stronger on the full moon and how the hell would they be ready? It seemed like they had just gotten out of hot water to get back into it.

Alicia wasnt that familiar with Malia, she had only even seen her twice, this being the second time. But she hadnt particularly liked her so far. She reminded her of a younger version of herself, harsh, angsty, and prideful. It had taken alot to bring her back to earth, particularly, getting herself out of smalltown-nowhereseville, Conneticut. Malia didnt have such an option, from what Alicia knew of her, her family was mostly dead. She almost felt bad for the girl, having killed her own parents, found out she had two new ones, just to have them ripped out from under her all at once. It would be hard, going through all of that while simultaneously not having developed socially for such a long period of time. It would be lonely.

But loneliness doesnt justify attacking innocents. That was something Alicia couldnt empathize with. She was having a hard time getting the thought of Malia as a werewolf out of her head. Now her fantasy encompassed so much more detail than when she had been picturing Liam. She was more familiar with werewolves now, she knew their capablities. She knew this threat could be easily carried out, especially since her and Mj were the weakest members of the group. They were the ones in real danger by all of this, not Scott. And she couldnt expect Scott to protect them every second of everyday, no matter how much he wanted to.

On this note, Alicia finished washing up and changed her clothes before eagerly awaiting Scott's arrival by the window in their room.

Mj still laying face down on the bed behind her.

"You never answered my question." Alicia said, trying to distract herself from the street.

"Im not going." Mj said into her pillow.

"Because you're hungover?"

"Yes."

"Good." Alicia said, turning to face her.

"Good?" Mj poked an eye up at Alicia, "you normally wouldnt say skipping school is good..."

"Youre right." Alicia confessed, striding across the room and flinging the blanket off of Mj, "Im saying good because if you're going to skip school, then you can at least make yourself somewhat useful."

"Im not useful. Dont try and make me useful." Mj shut her eyes tightly again.

"Okay, so you can stay here, like a sitting duck, when there is a bloodthirsty werewolf with a grudge pledging to kill us….completely alone...defenseless…"

"What the hell do you want me to do?" Mj sat up slowly.

Alicia walked back over to the window, and brightened as Scott pulled up on his motorcycle, "I was thinking," she picked up a jacket and her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder, "We need to find a way to make this house safe. To make ourselves safe."

"You're the one dancing with the alpha and-"

"And Im also going to school and studying and doing normal teenager things."

Mj cleared her throat, "Fine. ButI dont even know where to begin."

"Well, ask someone." Alicia said, slamming the bedroom door behind her and letting her cousin think about that for a while. She wasnt going to let anyone damper her mood, not when she felt so good.

Scott was waiting just outside of the door, his helmet under his arm, and a smile on his face. He looked tired, he was probably up late last night thinking about what had happened at the party.

"Good Morning," she said, returning the smile warmly.

"You're in a good mood." He said, stretching out an arm for her to take. She did, they began to walk towards the motorcycle.

"Today is a good day." She replied, despite herself.

"Even after last night?" he said, one eyebrow cocked. He climbed onto the bike, and she climbed up after him.

"Especially after last night." she said, wrapping her arms around him as he kicked on the ignition.

* * *

><p>Mj let herself sink deeper into the bed, trying not to focus on how much the room spun when she let her eyes open. She felt horrible. She had drank far too much alcohol the night before, and now she was paying for it.<p>

She heard Alicia and Scott pull away from the house, and she sat even more still. Hoping that if werewolves were real, and all you had to do was get bitten by one, than if she didnt move a muscle, maybe she could turn into a statue. Statues cant be hunted down by werewolves. Statues dont have to go to school. Statues dont have to listen to thier cousins or mom's. Statues dont like boys. Statues dont have to worry about-

Mj's circular thinking was cut off by a rough tap outside her window. She didnt open her eyes.

_taptaptaptaptaptap. _

She hoped, desperately, that it was her imagination.

Then it came again.

_taptaptaptaptaptap. _"Mj! Let me in! Your window is locked!"

"Its locked for a reason."

…

"The front door is locked too."

Mj let her eyes flutter open, then angrily sat up, moving across the room and flinging the window open so Stiles could clamber in.

"Thanks, I thought I was going to fall off th…" He stopped midsentence to let his eyes wander down the length of her body, stopping on her bottom half.

Mj rolled her eyes, "Maybe you shouldnt scale peoples houses to jump in through their window!"

He looked like dragging his eyes from her legs back to her face was the hardest thing he had to do in his life, he cleared his throat nervously, "You're not wearing pants."

"Because I was sleeping... Because I didnt know you were coming over." she turned around and stomped over to her dresser, pulling the first pair of shorts out she could find and pulling them on over her underwear, "Because like I already said, scaling people's houses and coming in through their window _isnt normal._" When she turned back around, Stiles still had his back to her.

"I tried calling you and knocking," he turned around.

"And I tried ignoring your calls," she crossed her arms, "But I guess its good you're here because I have a few things I need to talk to you about,"

"Last night, I had no idea Malia would be there-" Stiles began, but she cut him off.

"It really doesnt matter if you knew or not-" she began tying her hair back into a bun, her stomach was settling slowly as she woke up more.

"But I didnt."

"Okay. Whatever. Stiles," she led him over to the window that was still open, letting in a cool breeze. "How easy was it to get up here?"

"Pretty easy, its got that little lip right there," Mj bent over the edge of the window sill to observe the bit of the house he was talking about. He was right, there was a thick edge that could easily be reached by getting up the tree in her front yard. "Then this tree, goes right up to here," She had jumped down to the same ledge before when leaving her house in the early morning. Her room was on the second story, but the landing was short, and easy to get to. She leaned down farther, and he came up next to her, resting a hand lightly on her back as he tried to follow her train of thought. She was observing the huge front windows below them. "It wasnt hard at all." he concluded

Mj suddenly realized the weight of the situation. Having someone send you a death threat means they could come to follow up on it at anytime. Her mother lived there. This was getting to be something far more serious than before.

"Well Im assuming it would be even easier for a werewolf." She leaned back into the house. "My mom lives here…"

"I dont think Malia would-"

"You didnt think she would leave and come back as a crazy bitch either."

"She lost her own mom," he was in denial, and it was obvious. He was avoiding Mj's eye contact, looking around the room. "I think she left Beacon Hills altogether-"

"Why would she come back here and leave right away?"

"I dont know! I mean, she has her dad here….her mom _was_ here…"

"Stiles, you're lying." she studied him carefully, until he managed to meet her eye.

"-Im thinking about looking for her myself." he blurted out finally, "She's just confused and-"

Mj rolled her eyes, and plopped down onto her bed. Stiles stayed standing in the spot he was in by the window across the room. "You're not looking for her, you're going to kill yourself."

"I'll do whatever I want." Stiles said, mimicking Mj fruitlessly.

"Thats why you're not at school already huh?" Mj asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I didnt say I was going now-" he was turning a bit more pale.

"You came here to make sure I was going to school…"

"I came here to offer you a ride-"

"Youre sneaky Stiles." he looked away again, "You didnt tell Scott? Lydia?...Anyone?"

"I didnt want anyone to try and stop me-"

"Or," she smiled slowly, getting up and walking over to where he was silhouetted against the morning light, "You came here because you knew I would stop you." She was inches from him, and she tried to catch his eyes, but he was avoiding her contact. Deliberately looking outside.

"If I wanted someone to argue with me about it, I would've just told Scott-"

"No. If you wanted someone to go with you, you would have told Scott."

He clenched his jaw and pouted his lips unintentionally, trying to find the words to convince himself, "Whatever Mj. Im going to find her, and talk her out of all this and-"

"Fine." she said, raising her eyebrows. They were standing close again, and there was tension in the air as she let her green eyes study face. His eyebrows were furrowed stubbornly.

"Thats it then?" He said frowning and looking downwards at his feet. The moment felt intimate despite the fact that they werent touching.

"Thats it." Mj smiled back, "Have fun."

"I will." he studied her face for a long moment, and she kept it as still as possible. "And I will see you tomorrow." he turned away again, and walked towards the door that lead out of her room. His fingertips just brushed the handle as she spoke again.

"I dont know how you'll see me, when I clearly pointed out earlier, that you'll be chasing your own death."

"You dont even know her," he spun back around, and spoke with his arms, he was angry now. She could tell he was being irrational. He walked back over to her, covering the space between them in seconds. She was telling him what he was scared to tell himself. "Dont try and tell me you know what she would or wouldnt-" He jabbed a finger into the center of her chest.

"I know she would have killed you last night." she stood her ground. Stiles looked beyond annoyed. The lines in his face deepened, specifically the two around the corners of his mouth, he inhaled sharply and licked his lips before talking again.

"I dont need to prove anything to you."

"Then why are you hesitating?" Mj crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto one hip.

Stiles scowled, dragged a hand through his messy brown hair, and pursed his lips for the second time that morning. His scowl made Mj's heart beat faster. There was something about the way he looked when he was angry, she wanted to brush her hand against his face.

"Because." he said finally.

"because…?"

"Because, this." and he cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her. She kissed him back immediately, her eyes fluttering closed as soon as his lips brushed her own. Mj had seen this coming, she had fished it out of him, made him stay. It felt wonderful. Her inhibitions about Stiles melted away in that moment, and she let him sink into her.

He pushed her lightly, gently across to her bed when they broke apart, smirking as he did so. She let him fall on top of her when she hit the sheets, and his mouth was suddenly on hers again. She couldnt get over the scent of him, it filled her every breath. Spearmint and something only slightly familiar, sweet and salty, like the smell of concrete after rain.

It was all lips, he seemed hesitant to slip his tongue into her mouth again, it didnt matter, she was letting him decide how far he wanted to go. His lips were enough for now, they were soft but hungry, forceful, knowing exactly what they wanted. She felt squished beneath him, and he seemed to be sinking farther into her. Thier legs bumped and entwined together, he was all knees and elbows, thin and lanky.

It was her that broke away first, gasping for air and wiggling a bit from under him to try and get comfortable...

* * *

><p>"Liam-"<p>

The kid didnt look at her. Instead, he kept his face forward, towards the short teacher who was lecturing about oceanic predators from the front of the room.

"Liam"

"Im going to fail this class if you keep distracting me." he said, not making eye contact with her.

Alicia leaned back in her chair, trying not to make it too obvious that they were talking during lecture, she put a hand over her face and pretended to keep her head down and write.

"Can I ask you something?"

He looked exasperated, "I guess…"

"Are there weaknesses? Like besides that poison shit that the desert wolf had?" She whispered.

He glanced left and right before talking, "...I think you should be asking Scott-". She rolled her eyes. What was it with everyone and 'checking with Scott' on everything? She respected Scott as much-if not more- than anyone else, but he wasnt any of these kids' keeper. And he knew that.

"Scott has enough on his plate right now."

Liam sighed, he was so much more of a teenager than Alicia was, she could feel the angst seeping out of his pores. "I dont know?! Wolfsbane." he kept his eyes on his notebook, "Can I please get back to work now?"

"Fine. Sorry I asked." Alicia rolled her eyes, and raised her hand to go to the restroom.

When she was finally out of the classroom and in the hallway, she brought her phone out to text MJ, pausing momentarily at the spot in the hall where she had met Scott. She glanced back at the door to the classroom, half expecting Liam to stumble out, half dead and rabid. He didnt.

She kept walking towards the bathroom, texting as she went.

'**just talked to Liam, he said something about wolfsbane.' **

Mj responded immediately:

'**you have horrible timing.' **

Alicia reached the bathroom door, '**sorry..? can you just try and find something out about it?'**

And before she could push the door open, it pushed open itself, and out came Malia. She looked much more put together than she had the night before, her hair wasn't as disheveled, she had probably had a shower, and her clothes looked washed.

"I thought something smelled familiar…" she said scrunching up her nose. She was much taller than Alicia, and towered over her menacingly. Alicia had to crane her neck a bit to look up at her.

She stood her ground, "What are you doing here?"

Malia smiled wide, "I go here," she said with a wink, "Where else would I be?"

"In a cave, under the glow of the full moon, drinking blood and...I dont know, barking at mailmen or something?"

"If I was dating Scott McCall, I would probably brush up on my werewolf knowledge..."

"You probably need alot of brushing up after being a coyote for so longl. I cant imagine they teach things like basic math, basic reading, and social skills in wherever Coyotes go to school?"

Malia's face got red and in a second she had slammed Alicia's back against the lockers next to them, her clawed nails digging beneath Alicia's skin as she did so. She was inches from Alicia's face, her eyes turning a vivid, bright blue. Alicia held eye contact, and tried not to let her voice sound as shaken as she felt inside when she said, "Definetly lacking social skills…"

"Its harder to be cocky when you're scared huh?" Malia slammed her harder, Alicia's head hit the locker behind her and bounced back off with a BANG.

"Im not scared."

"I can hear you're heartbeat, you're lying. Too bad Scott's not here to help you."

Alicia cringed, racking her brain for a way to get out of the situation she had just gotten herself in. _Why didnt she just ignore her? Why couldnt she just keep her mouth shut when it mattered?_

She decided that if she couldnt argue her way out of it, and she couldnt fight her way out of it, maybe she could try and take the high road. Reason with the coyote girl...

"Scott is you're alpha too, this is a big misunderstanding-"

"If one more person tells me that-"

She was cut off by a voice, behind her, "Let her go."

Alicia made eye contact with the boy, just as he stepped out of the classroom down the hallway, looking in both directions and seeing the scene. Liam was behind Malia in seconds, his face changing slowly to that of a wolfish form, less wolfish than that of Scott, but still considerably different than his normal boyish features.

He was shorter than Malia, but still menacing, he was-after all-an athlete, and when he transformed, his muscles got larger and more menacing. He growled, a low, eardrum rattling sound.

Malia let Alicia go, and she backed up, over to where Liam stood. They both faced her, and she moved to the middle of the halway, clicking her long talon like nails and growling back. They both posed for the fight, slowly beginning to round on each other, just as the bell that signified the end of class echoed loudly all around them.

As if on cue, people began to pour out of the classroom doors that lined the long hallway, and Liam and Alicia began to back up towards the stairwell to their left, keeping thier eyes trained on Malia, who was sinking into the crowd herself. Just as she was slipping out of view, Alicia felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Is that...Malia…?" Scott's voice asked into her ear.

"Oh yeah, she's definetly back. And it doesnt look like she's given up her mission…"


End file.
